This year's WNBA All-Star Game drew 100,000 visitors to the league's Web site, up 15 percent from last year and a record in the five-year history of the game, according to Brenda Spoonemore, vice president of interactive services for NBA Entertainment.
Spoonemore gave much of the credit for the growth to ABC. The July 12 game was broadcast on network television for the first time this year, and the ABC broadcast included numerous mentions of wnba.com.
"As a gathering place for fans, the double-digit increase in traffic to wnba.com is really a bellwether of the league's increased visibility and interest in our players," Spoonemore said.
The most-viewed player profiles during the All-Star Game were those of Detroit's Cheryl Ford, Seattle's Sue Bird and Los Angeles' Lisa Leslie. Fans outside the United States accounted for 25 percent of the single-day traffic.
During the 2003 WNBA season, wnba.com has averaged 450,000 weekly visitors to the site, an increase of more than 15 percent from last season and up 80 percent from 2001, when the site drew 250,000 visitors weekly, Spoonemore said.
