NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State football team will open the 2011 season Thursday, Sept. 1, against Eastern Illinois in Charleston and fans throughout the state will have the opportunity to watch the Mid-America Classic live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The Illinois State football team will have five of its 11 regular-season games distributed by national and regional television outlets, the most in the history of the program. Thursday's season-opener will be broadcast live on CSN Chicago, with Illinois State alumnus and WGN Sports Director Dan Roan handling the play-by-play duties and EIU alumnus and Chicago's ESPN 1000 radio host John Jurkovic serving as the analyst.
Comcast SportsNet Chicago, whose regional television base reaches 4.7 million homes, will not only carry the first game of the season, but will also showcase the Redbirds twice more throughout the season with the help of Niles Media Group, which will produce the telecasts. During the 2011-12 season, Niles Media Group has been contracted to produce as many as 15 Illinois State Athletics contests.
In addition to the season-opener, the Oct. 1 game at North Dakota State will be aired live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago Plus and produced by the North Dakota NBC Network. Thanks to an agreement with NDSU and Illinois State's partnership with Comcast SportsNet Chicago, the game will be seen throughout the state.
The Redbirds will be back on Comcast SportsNet Chicago for the Oct. 29 game at Southern Illinois, which was moved to a 2:30 p.m. kickoff. As part of the recent agreement with Niles Media Group, this Illinois State telecast will feature WMBD Sports Director Kurt Pegler on play-by-play and Illinois State All-American and former NFL player Boomer Grigsby as the analyst.
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