"The community accepted the game well," Rubio said. "Now they can understand the game. When you reach the Spanish community in their own language, you are dealing with them one-on-one. They have to trust the people they are dealing with. This is something the University is aware of."

"We recognize the presence and impact of the Spanish-speaking media and KTUZ specifically," Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione said when the agreement was announced this summer. "It is obvious to us that the marketplace is evolving and we want to pursue these new opportunities. We see this as an avenue to expand a very large fan base and we are pleased that we can partner with Skip Stow.

"We want Spanish-speaking citizens to know that we embrace them for our events and we will seek other ways to encourage their interaction with our programs."

While both Rubio and Nava said that being able to broadcast the OU game in Spanish was important to the radio station, Tyler Media and the university, the people who benefit the most are members of the growing Hispanic community in Oklahoma.

"As you know, in the Oklahoma City public school district, 38 percent of the students are Hispanic," Rubio said. "And of course they are into football. They love it. University of Oklahoma is a dream to some of these students who come to this school and be able to listen to the game in Spanish, in their own language."

Nava stresses that how special it is for younger kids to hear their favorite team in Spanish.

"We are sort of the second generation Hispanic people here," Nava said. "The high school students and university students. Those Hispanic persons, they like their football. We need to give them the opportunity to hear it in Spanish. They speak English, they speak Spanish. But they want to hear in Spanish what's going on with the Sooners. The OU football team is a very important thing nationally."

But, as of now, the Spanish broadcast was a one time deal. Despite Rubio saying the response from the listening audience was excellent, a timetable has not been set for the next broadcast.

The people at KTUZ hope this was not a one and done deal and look forward to a productive future calling OU games in Spanish.

"In the last five years, the Spanish population in Oklahoma City has grown 125 percent," Rubio said. "The numbers will tell you, as we grow, there is more interest in sports in Spanish. Of course OU basketball, football, soccer. That's one of the reasons OU and KTUZ had so much interest in this game."

Michael Kinney 366-3537 mkinney@normantranscript.com