• by Paul Gough , January 12, 2004

The National Football League is looking for new audiences and it's using the Web to find them.

The NFL's move, reported in today's editions of The New York Times, includes its Website translated into Mandarin Chinese. The Chinese version will have the content from the English language site plus something else: Philadelphia Eagles tight end Chad Lewis will provide audio, since he speaks Mandarin following two years as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan.

It's not the only American company to do so nor even the only sport. Many U.S.-based sports franchises have international followings. Major League Baseball, for instance, not only has a huge following in the Americas but also, thanks to stars like Ichiro Suzuki, spend a lot of time marketing to Japan. And the National Basketball Association offers NBA.com in nine languages.

China's a great place for Internet growth, with 68 million Internet users in the latest available figures. The NFL is partnering with a Chinese company to create and maintain the site, and another company is involved in selling advertising.

-- Paul J. Gough