Seton Hall enters sports poll market

Looking to add some academic credibility to the sports poll market dominated by ESPN Chilton, Seton Hall’s Stillman School of Business is launching a monthly poll that will deal with some of the knottier problems involving the business of sports.

The Seton Hall Poll, which says it is the first university-based, ongoing polling service, will call 5,000 random households, looking to get 1,200 respondents. It plans to debut with an Olympics-oriented poll this month that will include questions on performance-enhancing drugs, as well as whether consumers are more likely to buy products or services endorsed by top Olympic performers. It also plans a collegiate sports-related poll to coincide with March Madness, which will ask questions about students leaving college early or forsaking it entirely for pro sports.

“We’ll deal with the kind of ethical and moral issues that makes sports and sports business intriguing,” said former CBS Sports executive producer and senior vice president Rick Gentile, who is heading the poll for Seton Hall, where he also is teaching at Stillman School of Business’ Center for Sport Management.