Talk Of Brett Favre's Return Spikes Sales Of Local Green Bay Paper

Press-Gazette Sees Increased Web Traffic From Favre Saga

The continuing developments regarding whether QB Brett Favre will return to the Packers this season "has been both a blessing and a curse" to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, according to Joe Strupp of EDITOR & PUBLISHER. The Press-Gazette said that it has seen a boost in Web traffic, reader comments, and single-copy sales" since news broke last Friday that Favre "had changed his mind and wanted to come back for another season." Press-Gazette Single-Copy Manager Dave Sielski said that the Favre story "has driven single-copy sales up significantly," and that the paper "bumped up its single-copy press run 15% each day from Saturday to Tuesday." The paper would not release online page view statistics, but Press-Gazette Online Content Manager Julie Riebe said that the paper's Web site "has seen a regular increase of about 100,000 page views daily" since last Friday. However, Strupp reported the sale of Press-Gazette Favre retirement-related merchandise "has all but ground to a halt." Sielski: "We were going to set up a booth at training camp to sell these items. This has made it difficult to sell anything, people are holding back" (EDITORANDPUBLISHER.com, 7/17).

HITTING THE SOFTBALL: SI's Don Banks wrote of Favre's two-part interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, "Sorry, but this has to be asked: Greta Van Susteren? What, was Nancy Grace already booked that night? For a minute there I thought Favre might have some new information on the Natalee Holloway disappearance" (SI.com, 7/17).