Abstract
The purpose of this study is to measure the home field advantage across sports and within sports. The study also sets forth an analysis of the soccer games played in empty stadiums during the COVID-19 pandemic. We measure whether there is any difference between playing in front of fans and without fans: Something that has not been captured before. We use data for the years 2016-2019 from the top five UEFA soccer leagues, the NBA and the NFL. We find that home field advantage is present in soccer, however, there is no significant difference between its top five leagues or over the last four years. We also find that for both the NBA and the NFL, there is no home advantage, however, there is a difference between each of their respective divisions. Finally, we show that playing in front of no fans for the UEFA leagues because of COVID-19 causes home field advantage to dissipate.
Highlights
Athletic spectators are amongst the most historic and spirited people all over the world
Once we have found a quantitative estimation of this measurement, we can run the same test for the European soccer games played under their respective COVID-19 regulations and compare both measurements of home field advantage
In regard to our findings, we have found that strength of schedule is a determining factor for home field advantage in American sports as both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) have divisions that do have a home field advantage
Summary
Athletic spectators are amongst the most historic and spirited people all over the world. They have undying passions for their clubs. Every four years, around three million people travel to watch the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in attendance. Broadcasting data from FIFA.com (2018) shows that 3.572 billion people, over half of the global population, watched the recordbreaking 2018 World Cup in Russia in total. These expansive audiences must have some impact on how teams play. The effect of home field advantage and large groups of fans may give the sporting world some insight as to how their respective sports are influenced by forces outside of the playing field
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