The Univ. of Illinois this season will stream a new "Chinese-language broadcast of Illini football games, thought to be the first of its kind in the country," according to Julie Wurth of the Champaign NEWS-GAZETTE. The broadcasts "will be available free through the fightingillini.com website and its new mobile app." UI Assistant Dir of Sports Marketing Karl Feak said, "We're hoping that this program is really going to help us engage with our Chinese students on campus, and also our alumni across the United States and abroad." Wurth noted the UI campus "now has more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students from China, the largest group of international students on campus and a fivefold increase" from the fall of '05. UI Senior Associate AD/External Operations & Strategic Communication Mike Waddell said, "We have more Chinese students than any other college. We should be doing this." Waddell said that the Chinese broadcasts, which begin Friday with the home opener against Kent State, "will differ from the traditional English-language game broadcasts." Announcers "will do some play-by-play, but the idea is to explain things like a safety or the strategy behind third-and-long to fans who haven't grown up watching football." Waddell added that if the Chinese broadcasts "prove popular, the Illini may expand them to women's and men's basketball games" (Champaign NEWS-GAZETTE, 8/28).
