• by Masha Geller , June 9, 2002

Even though it may seem like the predominant subject of conversations in the last few weeks was War Emblem’s chances of winning the Triple Crown, there are more important things going on the world of sports online. That’s according to the latest data from NetRatings, of course.

NetRatings reported on Friday that surfers at home flocked to the official FIFA World Cup website during that week ending June 2, as traffic soared 420%. The site produced and marketed by Yahoo!, attracted more than 527,000 unique visitors, as compared to 101,000 the week prior. Visitors to the World Cup site accounted for 22% of the total audience traffic to Yahoo! Sports during the week.

Overall, the sports category drew many fans online, as more than 9.3 million Web surfers logged on to a sports site, reaching 12% of the active online population. Sports fans accessed information about baseball, the Stanley Cup finals, the NBA finals, the upcoming NFL football season and the June NASCAR races, among other sports events.

ESPN took the top spot, drawing 3.3 million Web surfers. Yahoo! Sports attracted nearly 2.1 million visitors, while more than 1.2 million logged on to Sportsline.com. Nascar.com drew nearly 1.2 million Web surfers during the same week. Majorleaguebaseball.com rounded out the top 5 list attracting more than one million surfers.

"Sports Web sites are a great way for fans to get the latest player statistics and game highlights, keeping surfers in constant touch with their favorite teams," said Jarvis Mak, senior Internet analyst, NetRatings. "With real-time game updates and live streaming video clips, sports sites will continue to draw a loyal following, especially with major sporting events such as the NBA Finals, World Cup, Wimbledon and French Open happening this summer."