The USA Today reports that the WNBA is doing great -- TV ratings up sharply. So is web traffic, which is "a key measure of fan interest."

No mention of attendance, however, which (according to WB Online's tabulation of the published numbers (pdf file)) dropped about 2%. The three teams that led the league last year -- NY, DC, and San Antonio -- all dropped significantly.

A few notes:

1. New York lost thousands of fans because the Lib were forced to play at the much smaller Radio City during the RNC. (Blame Bush, in other words.)

2. San Antonio's drop is nothing to be too worried about. New teams in all sports typically have very big first years, producing numbers that are nearly impossible to sustain once the honeymoon ends.

3. As far as averages, we were helped by losing Cleveland, which pulled down the average last year. If you excluded Cleveland from last year's pool, the overall drop would look worse.

4. The Olympics may have hurt us by pushing some games to school nights.

Jayda Evans reports today on attendance trends. Her article says that Seattle, Detroit, and Connecticut were the only teams to show an increase this year, but WB's numbers have Minnesota and LA adding to their averages too.

It's important to remember that the attendance numbers are always hazy. Different teams have different ways of reporting, and some have changed from last year to this. As a result, it's impossible to draw strong conclusions. But I think the basic message is clear: league attendance was down a little this year, but not down very much. The results aren't as good as anyone was hoping for, but they aren't that bad either.