The 2004–2005 hockey seasons was cancelled because of a player strike. The key issue in this labor dispute was a “salary cap.” The team owners wanted a salary cap to cut their costs. The owners of small-market teams wanted the cap to help their teams be competitive, of course, caps on salaries would lower the salaries of most players and as a result the players association fought against it. The team owners prevailed and the collective bargaining agreement specified a salary cap of $39 million and a floor of $21.5 million for the 2005–2006 seasons. Conduct an analysis of the 2003–2004 seasons (C04-02a) and the 2005–2006 seasons (C04-02b). For each season:

a. Estimate how much on average a team needs to spend to win one more game.

b. Measure the strength of the linear relationship.

c. Discuss the differences between the two seasons.