Majority of poll respondents want big changes before attending games again
If or when the NHL returns, it's highly likely there won't be any spectators in the stands. At least not for a while. According to a new poll, a big step will need to be taken before fans are conformable attending a game at an arena again.
The poll was conducted by The Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. It included 762 respondents, the normal sampling size for a poll of this kind. Asked if they would attend sports games again before a vaccine was developed for COVID-19, nearly three quarters, 72 percent, said no. 12 percent said they would if social distancing could be maintained.
The number drops among those considering themselves serious sports fans, although 61 percent still said no without a vaccine, which is a significant number.
As for the possibility of playing games with no fans present, 76 percent said they would watch broadcasts of the games with the same interest as before, with only 16 percent saying they would be less interested and 7 percent saying they would be more interested.
On whether people feel leagues shut down at the right time, with most being in the second week of March, 76 percent said yes. Six percent said not quickly enough and another six percent said too quickly.
Lastly, asked whether teams have an obligation to pay daily arena and stadium workers for time missed because of the virus, 59 percent said yes and 33 percent said no.
Source: Seton Hall Sports Poll
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 11 | 1042 ANSWERS Majority of poll respondents want big changes before attending games again Would you feel comfortable attending games before a COVID-19 vaccine is developed? | ||
| Yes | 539 | 51.7 % |
| No | 503 | 48.3 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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YESTERDAY
MAY 21, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Juraj Slafkovsky | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Nick Suzuki | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Phillip Danault | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Texier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Kaiden Guhle | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||