CYBERSPORTS THROW IN THE HANSEN BROTHERS, AND IT'S A DEAL.

Byline: - Tom Hoffarth

Don't be surprised if a struggling minor-league hockey team up for bid on eBay.com has a tough time attracting real buyers.

For the second time in a week, the financially strapped Anchorage Aces of the West Coast Hockey League are listed on the auction Web site. The bidding on item 1745220456, which was up to $2 million Sunday, ends July 8.

It looked like the team was sold last week, but a $2.3 million winning bid Friday turned out to be a hoax posted by a college student.

Barry Kemp, chairman of the WCHL's board of governors, considers the eBay route to selling a team as an unlikely solution.

``Odds are it would be a difficult way to market and sell a team,'' Kemp told the Associated Press. ``That caveat being said, if a legitimate buyer emerges in this procedure, we could be seeing more professional teams take this method.''

A spokesman for eBay said a sports team never has been sold on the site. Last year, a PGA Tour event, the B.C. Open, once tried to sell its title sponsorship on the site.

The Aces, more than $2 million in debt but reported to be worth about $3.5 million, finished 19-44 last season. Whoever has the winning bid will have to be approved by the league's board.

--With 1.68 billion page viewings prior to the World Cup championship game, the official tournament Web site www.FIFAWorldCup.com has become the most popular sports-event site in Internet history.

Of the total viewings, 51.6 percent were in English, followed by Japanese with 11.0 percent.

--A recent project by the Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to rank the Web sites of all 121 MLB, NBA, NHL and NFL teams wasn't kind to the Kings.

They came in at No. 120 - second to last.

The study rated each team on content, design, commerce and interactivity during a six-week period - April 1 to May 8, 2002.

However, that was done before the team relaunched its site (www.lakings.com) just prior to the NHL draft. The new site was redesigned with intentions to make it easier for fans to get news and other information on the team sent straight to their e-mail box through an L.A. Kings eNews link.

The site is powered by Santa Clarita-based VirtuPoint, whose Web clients include Staples Center and the Kodak Theatre.