Over 300,000 people participate in or are involved with women's hockey across North America, and this number has been rising significantly following the inclusion of women's hockey in the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics. Interest in women's hockey is also increasing at a comparable rate in Europe, Australia, and even in Asia. Women's hockey is currently the fastest growing segment of the sport of ice hockey worldwide.
Women's hockey registration in Canada has climbed 400% since the first World Championship in 1990. There were just 7,321 registered girls and women playing hockey in Canada in 1988, but that number has skyrocketed to 27,307 in 1997. Even larger growth is being experienced in the United States. There were 5,573 female player registered in the United States in 1991, and just 8 years later that number has increased six-fold to more than 33,639 registered female hockey players in 1999. These numbers do not include the numerous players who are involved in high school, university, or pick-up hockey.
The world wide web has also seen a dramatic increase in the number of users since its debut. The percentage of homes in the U.S. that have a personal computer rose to more than 40% in 1997. In Canada, 37% of all households now have at least one personal computer, and the percentage of households that have internet connections has climbed to 17%. The Canadian Internet Marketplace has projected that 28% of all Canadian households will have internet connections by the year 2000. Internet activity is expected to quadruple to 200 million users worldwide by the year 2000.
The rise in interest in women's hockey and the increase in internet
usage has been paralleled by the increase in traffic at the women's
hockey web site. Sponsoring the women's hockey web site provides you
with a unique opportunity to gain further recognition as a supporter of
women's hockey in both this growing sport and in the growing community
of the Internet.
Sponsoring www.whockey.com provides you with the following: