LA JOLLA, Calif. - January 29, 2001 - Demonstrating significant growth across its three core market segments, Active.com - the leading registration and data management company for participatory sports events, teams/leagues and recreational activities - today announced transaction and site traffic milestones during 2000.
Already a market leader for online event registration, Active.com processed over one million transactions for event and league registrations, web publishing and e-commerce in 2000. This figure represents a 400 percent increase over the number of transactions the company processed in 1999. Active.com also increased site traffic, boosting monthly page views by 600 percent through organic growth and the company's acquisition last month of Los Angeles-based eteamz.com, a leading web community for teams and leagues. During December 2000, eteamz.com was ranked 12th most trafficked sports site by PC Data Online. By merging operations with eteamz.com, Active.com generates an estimated 30 million monthly page views, landing the company a future spot among the top ten most trafficked sports sites on the web, as well as owning a majority of the youth sports market.
"We've had a tremendous year and are on track to dominate registration and web services for participatory events, team sports and recreation in 2001," said Jon Belmonte, chief operating officer, Active.com. "We're currently providing registration services for more than 20,000 events and leagues, including some of the largest and most diverse participatory sports events, league organizations and park districts in North America. Combine this with our growing customer base and high traffic numbers, and you have a strong indication that our customers are extremely satisfied with the utility and convenience our services provide."
Active.com recently added registration for 55 events in the Komen Race for the Cure Series and more than 700 events in the YMCA World's Largest Run Day 5K Series. Other recent wins include the Vancouver Sun Run, the largest running event in Canada and the third largest 10K in North America; the Utica Boilermaker Road Race 15K, one of the nation's oldest races; and Bike New York, a ride through New York City's five boroughs. Active.com is also providing second- or third-year registration for events such as Cincinnati's Flying Pig Marathon, Bolder Boulder 10K, Bay to Breakers 12K, Lilac Bloomsday 12K, and Elite Racing's Country Music Marathon, Suzuki Rock n' Roll Marathon and Carlsbad 5000, the world's fastest 5K.
"Active.com's web services have helped us streamline registration for our marathon, enabling us to provide more efficient services to the runners as well as saving time and cutting down the huge workload associated with the registration process," explained Rich Williams, race director for Cincinnati's Flying Pig Marathon, an annual event that attracts more than 6,000 participants from 12 countries. "Our online registration over the last two years has jumped from 40 percent to 80 percent for this year's event."
In addition, Active.com now provides league administration and community web tools for 200,000 teams in 50 countries, more than 14,000 leagues and 1,900 organizations - currently representing more than ten million team and league participants at park and recreation facilities, intramural sports programs and league organizations worldwide.
Casper Recreation Division, based in Casper, Wyoming, is just one organization benefiting from Active.com's league services. "As a league administrator and tournament director, I'm challenged with effectively communicating with participants, collecting registrations, and disseminating league updates and schedules while providing a positive experience for everyone," said Carolyn Griffith, recreation supervisor, city of Casper Recreation Division, which offers a variety of sports leagues, tournaments and special events for approximately 10,000 participants and over 800 teams annually. "Active.com's league tools and online registration capabilities have not only improved the quality of service our division has been able to provide, but has also helped us operate more efficiently. As a result, we have been able to offer new leagues and events for citizens in our community."
During 2000, Active.com's park and recreation segment also experienced significant growth. More than 30 state associations joined ActiveParks.org, Active.com's co-founded initiative with the National Recreation and Park Association which provides a web resource for park and recreation professionals and a comprehensive database of facility information for online access and online activities registration. Within these state associations, more than 750 agencies began working with Active.com to enter their facilities information into the ActiveParks.org database.
Through the company's November merger with RecWare provider Sierra Digital, Inc. - developer of the industry's leading recreation management software - more than 1,000 park and recreation agencies will soon be able to provide online registration as an extension of their existing software, allowing their customers to register online for activities, leagues and classes.
Active.com also launched an affiliate program in 2000 that successfully extended the reach of its event calendar and registration services. The program, which provides services ranging from customized web solutions and comprehensive web sites to calendar distribution and event listings, has attracted such partners as Gorp.com, USA Today and Triathlete Magazine. The company recently re-signed 13 regional sports magazines to its program, representing a national circulation base of 925,000.
About Active.com
As the leading provider of registration and data management services for participatory sports events, teams/leagues, and park activities, Active.com (www.active.com) is leveraging the Internet to provide real utility and convenience to event organizers, league administrators, park and recreation professionals, and participants. By moving the industry's traditional paper-based registration and administration processes to the web, the La Jolla-based company delivers a transaction-based web solution that includes powerful data management and communications tools for the professionals managing and directing events, leagues and park activities. For participants, Active.com provides the most comprehensive worldwide database to find, learn about and register for sports and recreational activities online. Generating an estimated 30 million page views each month and providing registration for more than 20,000 events and leagues worldwide, Active.com is one of the top-ranked, most trafficked sports sites on the Internet. The company also has exclusive partnerships with sports national governing bodies, and major Internet and media outlets. For more information, visit www.active.com or call (888) 543-7223.