More than 78 million Americans visited sports websites in November, a 5% increase over the same month last year. 
 
Yahoo! Sports was the top sports site, drawing nearly 23 million unique visitors last month – a 2% jump from a year ago.  In November, the average Yahoo! Sports user spent 20% more time on the site, compared to last year.
 
ESPN.com placed second in Nielsen’s ranking, but showed the greatest increase in unique visitors (+12%).  ESPN’s users also logged on for 20% more sessions last month than in November 2007.
 
NFL Internet Network, FOX Sports on MSN, and CBS Sports …

Yahoo! Sports was the number one-ranked sports website in September, edging past second-ranked ESPN.com, Nielsen Online reported Monday. 
Sports-related websites in the U.S. drew a total unique audience of 77.5 million visitors in September.

RANK
WEBSITE
UNIQUE AUDIENCE
(in 000s)

1
Yahoo! Sports
26,003

2
ESPN
22,834

3
FOX Sports on MSN
16,023

4
NFL Internet Network
15,037

5
CBS Sports
13,278

Source: Nielsen Online, NetView (September 1, 2008 – September 30, 2008).

View complete data on the top five sports websites.

Workplace traffic to U.S.-based sports websites was up by 26% in August, compared with traffic to online sports destinations in August 2007, Nielsen Online reported Thursday.
The Beijing Olympics and the start of fall football season may have had something to do with the spike in traffic, Jon Gibs, vice president, media analytics, Nielsen Online, noted.
“With broad interest in the Olympics, and the ramp up of the college and professional football seasons, August was a busy month for online sports fans,” Gibs said.  “The Web offered 24/7 access to news, results …