South Orange NJ, November 29, 2020 — Twenty-six percent of Americans surveyed doubt the NFL will conclude its season successfully. Asked if they thought it doubtful the NFL will make it through the playoffs and complete the Super Bowl in this year of Coronavirus, 26 percent agreed. Among self-described sports fans the number of those who doubt that the NFL will successfully complete the season moved up to 29 percent; however, an equal number of sports fans (29 percent) felt the opposite and did not doubt the season will successfully conclude. The remainder neither agreed nor disagreed.
These were the findings of a Seton Hall Sports Poll conducted November 13-16 among 1,506 American adults, geographically spread across the country. The Poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percent.
And although 25 percent of those queried believe that the aggregate “shuffling” of the NFL schedule to accommodate teams with cases of coronavirus “takes away from the integrity of the season,” 48 percent said they thought it was “no big deal” to reschedule a game.
“It is a different kind of year,” said Professor Charles Grantham, Director of the Center for Sport Management within the Stillman School of Business, which oversees the Seton Hall Sports Poll. “That which seemed certain in years past now is the subject of doubt. The Super Bowl is the most watched sporting and media event in the United States. The fact that 29 percent of sports fans think the Super Bowl itself may be in question is astounding,” said Grantham, who is the former executive director of the National Basketball Players Association.
ABOUT THE POLL
The Seton Hall Sports Poll, conducted regularly since 2006, is performed by the Sharkey Institute within the Stillman School of Business. This poll was conducted online by YouGov Plc. using a national representative sample weighted according to gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography, based on U.S. Census Bureau figures. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S residents. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. The Seton Hall Sports Poll has been chosen for inclusion in iPoll by Cornell’s Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and its findings have been published everywhere from USA Today, ESPN, The New York Times, Washington Post, AP, and Reuters to CNBC, NPR, Yahoo Finance, Fox News and many points in between.
Media: Michael Ricciardelli, Associate Director of Media Relations, Seton Hall University
michael.ricciardelli@shu.edu, 908-447-3034; Marty Appel, AppelPR@gmail.com
The Results:
November 2020 SHSP Tables
Q4 Since the start of the NFL season, multiple players have tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19), leading to NFL games being postponed during the season. To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements? Please select one option on each row.
- The shuffling of the NFL schedule takes away the integrity of the season
| N=1,506
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non-Fan | Avid
Fan |
Avg
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
Not a
Fan |
No
Opinion |
| Agree | 26% | 33% | 11% | 39% | 33% | 29% | 10% | 23% |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 47% | 36% | 70% | 27% | 34% | 42% | 70% | 61% |
| Disagree | 27% | 31% | 19% | 34% | 33% | 29% | 20% | 16% |
- It is not a “big deal” if a game is rescheduled
| N=1,506
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non-Fan | Avid
Fan |
Avg
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
Not a
Fan |
No
Opinion |
| Agree | 48% | 56% | 32% | 65% | 56% | 53% | 32% | 25% |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 38% | 28% | 57% | 24% | 26% | 33% | 57% | 61% |
| Disagree | 14% | 16% | 11% | 11% | 18% | 14% | 11% | 14% |
- It is doubtful that the NFL will make it through the playoffs and complete the Super Bowl
| N=1,506
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non-Fan | Avid
Fan |
Avg
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
Not a
Fan |
No
Opinion |
| Agree | 26% | 29% | 18% | 40% | 28% | 28% | 18% | 11% |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 52% | 42% | 72% | 28% | 41% | 49% | 72% | 70% |
| Disagree | 22% | 29% | 10% | 32% | 31% | 23% | 10% | 19% |
The “agree” percentage in the release is based on combining those who strongly or somewhat agree.
November 2020 SHSP
- Which, if any, of the following statements best describes your interest in sports?
- I am an avid sports fan (i.e., I plan everything I do around sporting events) (10%)
- I am an average sports fan (i.e., I enjoy sports and I watch sports when I can) (31)
- I am a casual sports fan (i.e., if the game is part of a social event, I’ll watch) (24)
- I am not a sports fan (33)
- Don’t know/no opinion (2)
- Since the start of the NFL season, multiple players have tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19), leading to NFL games being postponed during the season. To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements? Please select one option on each row.
The shuffling of the NFL schedule takes away the integrity of the season
- Strongly agree (11%)
- Somewhat agree (14)
- Neither agree nor disagree (47)
- Somewhat disagree (14)
- Strongly disagree (13)
It is not a “big deal” if a game is rescheduled
- Strongly agree (20%)
- Somewhat agree (27)
- Neither agree nor disagree (38)
- Somewhat disagree (8)
- Strongly disagree (6)
It is doubtful that the NFL will make it through the playoffs and complete the Super Bowl
- Strongly agree (10%)
- Somewhat agree (16)
- Neither agree nor disagree (52)
- Somewhat disagree (14)
- Strongly disagree (8)
ABOUT SETON HALL UNIVERSITY
One of the country’s leading Catholic universities, Seton Hall has been showing the world what great minds can do since 1856. Home to nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and offering more than 90 rigorous academic programs, Seton Hall’s academic excellence has been singled out for distinction by The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report and Bloomberg Businessweek.
Seton Hall embraces students of all religions and prepares them to be exemplary servant leaders and global citizens. In recent years, the University has achieved extraordinary success. Since 2009, it has seen record-breaking undergraduate enrollment growth and an impressive 110-point increase in the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. In the past decade, Seton Hall students and alumni have received more than 30 Fulbright Scholarships as well as other prestigious academic honors, including Boren Awards, Pickering Fellowships, Udall Scholarships and a Rhodes Scholarship. The University is also proud to be among the most diverse national Catholic universities in the country.
During the past five years, the University has invested more than $165 million in new campus buildings and renovations. And in 2015, Seton Hall launched a School of Medicine as well as a College of Communication and the Arts. The University’s beautiful main campus in suburban South Orange, N.J. is only 14 miles from New York City — offering students a wealth of employment, internship, cultural and entertainment opportunities. Seton Hall’s nationally recognized School of Law is located prominently in downtown Newark. The University’s Interprofessional Health Sciences (IHS) campus in Clifton and Nutley, N.J. opened in the summer of 2018. The IHS campus houses the University’s College of Nursing, School of Health and Medical Sciences and the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University.
For more information, visit www.shu.edu.