Last Updated on May 1, 2020
According to a poll published by Seton Hall University, nearly two thirds of Americans will refuse to attend major sporting events until a coronavirus vaccine is commonplace, with another subset of respondents saying they may be willing to attend sporting events with strict social distancing.
An April poll released by Seton Hall University and touted by ESPN, with a small sample size of only 762 respondents, suggests the overwhelming majority of Americans are unwilling to attend sporting events until a coronavirus vaccine is complete, which could take up to 18 months.
According to the poll, 72 per cent of Americans would refuse to attend a major sporting event without a vaccine in place, and an additional 12 per cent claimed that they would attend games prior to a vaccine being released if strict social distancing were enforced.
Only 13 per cent of Americans said they would be comfortable attending sporting events without a vaccine or social distancing, as they might have in February of this year.
When only polling sports fans, the poll claims that a majority of fans – 62 per cent – would still refuse to attend sporting events without a vaccine.
Additionally, the poll suggests that while most Americans want the NFL to close for the season to protect the safety of players, 76 per cent of Americans say they would be as interested in watching televised games as before, even with no fans in the stands and limited media presence.
Despite most poll respondents wish for stadiums to take no revenue for the foreseeable future, 59 per cent of respondents say they believe that stadiums should continue paying their staff, even as stadiums sit empty.
As of yet, only the UFC has refused to cancel its season due to coronavirus.
