Illinois looks to grow football fan base among Chinese students
The University of Illinois has had attendance issues in recent years, but this season it’s taking a unique approach to cultivate a new group of fans.
The number of Chinese students attending Illinois has increased from 850 in 2005 to more than 4,500 this academic year. It’s the largest group of international students on campus. As a result, Illini 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. He will be joined by Bruce Lu.
Brad Wurthman, director of athletics marketing and fan development, sees a bigger international goal. “We want to be the Big Ten team of Asia,” he said. “This is a first step for us. We’re the first school in the country to do this.”
Source: The Pantagraph
