A Majority Of Canadians (68%) Won't Mourn Frozen Ghosts Of 2004-2005 NHL Season

Toronto, ON - Following Gary Bettman's announcement of the complete cancellation of play for the 2004-2005 National Hockey League (NHL) season on Wednesday as a result of the inability of the NHL Players and Owners to reach a new labour agreement, Ipsos-Reid in partnership with the Globe and Mail/ CTV launched a national survey to gauge the feelings of Canadians in reaction to this unprecedented occurrence to their most popular professional sports league.

The survey shows that despite our continued national passion for the game of hockey, Canadians' passion for the NHL in light of the season lockout may be headed for tough times. In fact, a majority of Canadians (68%) say they don't care that the 2004-2005 NHL season is cancelled -- only 32% say that they do care that the season is cancelled.

And in the public relations battle for the hearts and minds of Canadians it seems that the owners continue to outplay the players. When Canadians are asked who they think is most to blame for the season being cancelled -based on what they have seen, read or heard- a plurality of Canadians (48%) point to the "players and their leadership". Twenty-seven percent of Canadians say the "owners and their leadership" are most to blame for the cancelled season, while 21% blame "both" of these groups.

When comparing these most recent survey results with similar tracking questions asked during a December 20th, 2004 survey and a September 13th, 2004 survey we see that the percentage of Canadians who most blame the players has remained fairly steady (from 52% in the September, 2004 survey to 50% in the December, 2004 survey, to 48% today), while the percentage who most blame the owners has edged up slightly (from 21% in both the September, 2004 and the December, 2004 surveys, to 27% today).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Globe and Mail/CTV poll conducted from February 16th to February 17th, 2005. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 863 adult Canadians was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 1773.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Majority Of Canadians (68%) Say They Don't Care That 2004-2005 NHL Season Is Cancelled - 32% Do Care...

After being prompted with the information that the National Hockey League has cancelled the 2004-2005 season due to a dispute between the players association and the owners, Canadians were asked if they "care that the season for this year has been cancelled". The majority of Canadians (68%) say "no" they don't care that the NHL season has been cancelled, while 32% say "yes" they do care.

Those most likely to say "no" they don't care about the cancelled NHL season are:

183
• Residents of Atlantic Canada (73%), followed by residents of Quebec (71%), Ontario (69%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (68%) and Alberta (68%), and British Columbia (60%); 183
• Those aged 35 and over (74% vs. 55% among those aged 18-34); and 183
• Women (71% vs. 65% among men).

Those most likely to say "yes" they do care about the cancelled NHL season are:

183
• Residents of British Columbia (40%), followed by residents of Alberta (32%) and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (32%), Ontario (31%), Quebec (29%), and Atlantic Canada (27%); 183
• Younger Canadians aged 18-34 (45% vs. 26% among those aged 35 and over); and 183
• Men (34% vs. 29% among women).

"Players" Get Most Blame For Cancelled Season (48%), Compared To 27% Who Blame "Owners" And 21% Who Blame "Both"...

Based on what they have seen, read or heard, a plurality of Canadians (48%) say that the "players and their leadership" are most to blame for the season being cancelled. In comparison, 27% of Canadians say the "owners and their leadership" are most to blame for the season being cancelled, and 21% say "both" are to blame. The remaining 4% of Canadians "don't know" who is most to blame.

** Comparing these most recent survey results with similar questions asked during a December 20th, 2004 survey and September 13th, 2004 survey we see that the percentage of Canadians who most blame the players has remained fairly steady (from 52% in September, 2004 survey to 50% in December, 2004 survey, to 48% today), while the percentage who most blame the owners has edged up slightly (from 21% in both the September, 2004 and December, 2004 surveys, to 27% today).

Those Canadians most likely to blame the "players and their leadership" are:

183
• Residents of Alberta (55%), followed by residents of Quebec (52%), Atlantic Canada (48%), Ontario (46%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (43%), and British Columbia (42%); and 183
• Younger Canadians aged 18-34 (52% vs. 46% of those aged 35 and over).

Those Canadians most likely to blame the "owners and their leadership" are:

183
• Residents of British Columbia (39%), followed by residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (29%), Alberta (27%), Ontario (25%), Quebec (24%), and Atlantic Canada (23%); and 183
• Those with a annual household income of less than $30,000 (37% vs. 24%).

Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900