Champaign, Ill. – Illinois Athletics and the Fighting Illini Radio Network, under the direction of Fighting Illini Sports Properties, have announced that home football games at Memorial Stadium will be broadcast in Mandarin Chinese online through FIGHTINGILLINI.COM.
The broadcast will be led by David He, a sophomore majoring in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism. David will be joined by Bruce Lu.
Over 4,500 students from China attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, making them the largest group of international students on campus. The number of Chinese students attending Illinois has gradually increased from 850 students in the fall of 2005 to more than five times that number today.
"Our goal with this is to better reach all Fighting Illini fans, whether they attend school here in Champaign-Urbana or have graduated and are living abroad" said Senior Associate Director of Athletics Mike Waddell. "We are very excited to reach both Chinese students and alumni and give them the option to enjoy Illinois football in Mandarin Chinese. We hope that this is the first of many international outreach efforts for Fighting Illini Athletics."
Broadcasting football games in Chinese is the latest effort in a series of moves to better connect with international students on campus. Beginning in 2013, Illinois Athletics has partnered with Inclusive Illinois, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association and the International Student and Scholar Services office to host Football 101 – an interactive and educational session about the basics of football taught by the Fighting Illini football team; and Basketball Carnival – an open gym focusing on the fundamentals of basketball with the Fighting Illini women's basketball team.
The English language broadcast, featuring Brian Barnhart, Martin O'Donnell and Carey Davis on the call, will be broadcast on the statewide 43-station Fighting Illini Sports Network and on FIGHTINGILLINI.COM.
Fighting Illini Sports Properties is a property of Learfield Sports, which manages the multimedia rights and sponsorships for nearly 100 collegiate institutions and associations. The company also titles the prestigious Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, and represents collegiate institutions, conferences and arenas for their respective multimedia rights and sponsorship initiatives. Learfield offers these partners with professional concessions and ticket sales, licensing and trademark consulting, digital platform expertise and venue and technology systems through its owned companies. To learn more about its history, businesses and job opportunities, visit learfieldsports.com.
