There is so much talk about streaming and the value of personalized channels can bring to hand casual and diehards a point of view as to how they want to engage in the live coverage of their favorite sporting events. We keep seeing the expansion of Twitch and its competitors into sports deals with teams, leagues and certain colleges and even high schools, not to mention niche sports and disruptive leagues like the NWHL.
So here is a streaming niche that is low cost, impactful and should be more expansive. Multilingual broadcasts that are promoted to an audience who would love to engage, and probably engage more, as an event speaks to them in the tongue they are most comfortable with. A good number of teams in the five professional leagues do run Spanish broadcasts, at least for a select number of events (MLS and MLB are arguably the most expansive in that area), and the Washington Wizards just added content in Japanese (which also helps grow the following of their number one draft pick Rui Hachimura). We have seen other attempts, like the Oakland Raiders broadcasting in Navajo, and last year, as we wrote about, the University of Pennsylvania did some men’s games in Mandarin.
So it came as a good step this week when it was announced that the University of Nebraska would become the first Big Ten team to broadcast football games in Spanish. While on the surface it may seem a little out of character, but when you realize the growing demo of Spanish-first residents in the Midwest, it should not be that big a surprise.
They become just the ninth power conference teams that have all or some games carried in Spanish on radio or digital platforms: Kansas, Louisville, LSU, Miami, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and TCU are the others.
Now the Huskers have pointed out this is only a test, as it is National Hispanic Heritage Month, and there was mention that if their sales arm, Learfield IMG College, can sell around it the effort will gain steam.
Honestly that seems a little short sighted, especially if this is going to be based on some kind of numbers play. What this should be is a solid effort to connect with an engaged fan base who can become Husker fans for life. There are any host of brands who are looking, and struggling, to connect with the young brand loyal and sports passionate Latino family. The Spanish language broadcast can be a great entry point, but just that; a first step that should be looked at as a long term investment, not a gimmick.
This gets back to where we started; low cost streaming efforts. Across many college campuses and major media markets there are scores of young people who are multilingual who would love to engage in the thrill of sport in their native language. Are there St. John’s loyalists who love hoops and think about the Red Storm in their native Italian? How about more Indian or Pakistani natives who are in Ann Arbor and would like to conduct an engaged discussion, or a broadcast in their native tongue. Some may say how would we find them and how bad would it sound? Well, how do you know if you don’t try.
The barrier to experiment with live audio is very, very low. What is a pro team held an open tryout for native language speakers to come and do a game in their own voice. We have seen open tryout for years in English; why not in every language possible? It could even start on the college campus, the biggest melting pot in most cities. You say you might not have space in the press area? Guess what; digital natives are used to looking at screens and the level of audio quality from remote locations has never been better. We see these multilingual channels set up at places like ESPN and NBC and in studios like Eurosport, especially for large international events like the World Cup or the Grand Slams in tennis or the Olympics. Why not give it a shot for men’s or women’s hoops or the NFL or the NHL? All leagues talk about looking globally, so do colleges for recruitment, why not start speaking to those fans right in your market? Now will this always work, or will it come it fits and starts as you have a greater interest in one demo or another? Probably, but the cost is only disruptive time, a little budget and some space.
Congrats Huskers for realizing an opportunity, we need more to follow.
