Survey Says...

850 the Buzz's Bomani Jones posted a blog entry on Sunday that referenced a recent survey of North Carolinians. The survey found that 18% of North Carolina residents don't know that the Carolina Hurricanes exist. Also, only 10% of 500 residents polled said that they'd accept free tickets to a Hurricanes game.

The story quotes Mike Sundheim, director of media relations for the Hurricanes, as saying that "in the Stanley Cup finals, a guy for ESPN that was based here in Durham basically ripped us and said nobody cares about us. Well, that guy must have literally not left his house during the two months of the playoffs that year to say that nobody here cares."

That article was written by....Bomani Jones. How convenient.

The poll was done by a "summer fellow" (intern) of Public Policy Polling, Curtis Labban, who is from the University of North Carolina. Looking at the in-depth statistics, I find that Mr. Labban's survey is seriously flawed. Let's hope he was an unpaid intern.

10% of respondents to this automated phone survey would have chosen a ticket to a Hurricanes game. Well, they had SIX choices: the Hurricanes, Carolina Panthers, NASCAR, Charlotte Bobcats, UNC basketball, and Duke basketball. Only 16% chose NASCAR...does that mean that NASCAR's popularity in NC is falling? No, it means that people like football (29%) and UNC basketball (28%). Duke basketball came in at 13%, the Bobcats at 5%. Oddly enough, that adds up to 101%. Somehow, I think Mr. Labban should have rounded someone's number differently so that his poll showed results for 100% of respondents.

I like the Hurricanes. A lot. I normally go to a few games each season. However, in this survey, I would have chosen the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers, for me, are more of a TV phenomenon. I understand that they are only a few hours from my house, and I've been to a few games, but it's expensive to go, and it would take all day, if not parts of two days. I just don't organize "Panther weekends" very often. However, for this phone survey, you're ranking teams in order of importance, not making "real world" decisions. For me, it would be Panthers, Hurricanes, Bobcats, and then NASCAR, UNC and Duke tied for last (unless the games happened to be against NC State).

I would have taken the Panthers tickets, but by the time the game came around, they could very well be on Craigslist. The appeal of "being there" is not that great to me, especially when I factor in all the time involved in getting there and getting back home. I know that the Hurricanes have well-managed traffic, and I can be home 30-45 minutes after the game ends. For a 7pm faceoff, I could leave home at 6:15 and be there.

The 18% that didn't know the Hurricanes existed is laughable. Could they name any hockey team? Do they follow any sports? You could have someone who knows the number and major sponsor of every NASCAR driver, but couldn't name a current NHL player for a million dollars.

There are over 1.5 million people in the Triangle. 23% of the people in the Triangle chose the Hurricanes tickets, second only to UNC basketball (27%).

If Mr. Jones wanted to talk about troubling statistics, he could have mentioned the Bobcats. They were only chosen by 5% of respondents as the free ticket of choice. In the mountains (828), 4% would go see the 'Canes, only 2% would take the shorter drive to Charlotte for the Bobcats. The only area code where the 'Cats reached double digits was 704, their home area code. And they only had 10% there. In the 910, NO ONE picked the Bobcats.

I guess everything doesn't really stop when the Bobcats play.