Home Team Advantage Research Articles

The Home Team Advantage Gives Football Referees Something to Ruminate about

Observation suggests that referees significantly contribute to the home team advantage in football. The atmosphere created by the home team fans is thought to be the major contributing factor, but the extent of this influence is dependent on the referee. The Decision-Specific Reinvestment Scale was developed to identify those individuals susceptible to disrupted decision making under pressure as a result of their tendency to over-involve consciousness in decision making (Decision Reinvestment) or as a result of their tendency to ruminate upon poor decisions made in the past (Decision Rumination). We asked qualified referees to make a series of video-based decisions to examine whether the home team advantage effect was associated with a high or low tendency for Decision Reinvestment or Decision Rumination. We showed that referees categorized as high Decision Ruminators disproportionately made decisions in favour of the home team. The tendency to ruminate upon poor decisions may help explain some of the variance in the home team advantage effect shown by different referees. We conclude that aspects of personality should be considered in the development of training programs designed to improve and standardise football refereeing.

‘Who do ‘‘they” cheer for?’ Cricket, diaspora, hybridity and divided loyalties amongst British Asians

This article explores the relationship between British Asians’ sense of nationhood, citizenship, ethnicity and some of their manifestations in relation to sports fandom: specifically in terms of how cricket is used as a means of articulating diasporic British Asian identities. Norman Tebbit’s ‘cricket test’ is at the forefront of this article to tease out the complexities of being British Asian in terms of supporting the English national cricket team. The first part of the article locates Tebbit’s ‘cricket test’ within the wider discourse of multiculturalism. The analysis then moves to focus on the discourse of sports fandom and the concept of ‘home team advantage’ arguing that sports venues represent significant sites for nationalist and cultural expression due to their connection with national history. The article highlights how supporting ‘Anyone but England’, thereby rejecting ethnically exclusive notions of ‘Englishness’ and ‘Britishness’, continues to be a definer of British Asians’ cultural identities. The final section situates these trends within the discourse of hybridity and argues that sporting allegiances are often separate from considerations of national identity and citizenship. Rather than placing British Asians in an either/or situation, viewing British ‘Asianness’ in hybrid terms enables them to celebrate their traditions and histories, whilst also being proud of their British citizenship.

From Grass Roots to World Class (A Strategy for Delivering Physical Activity)

From Grass Roots to World Class (A Strategy for Delivering Physical Activity)During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the Hungarian sports team's performance was worse than expected by most of the Hungarian people and the leaders of the Hungarian sports establishment. The Hungarian athletes returned home with a much lower medal tally than in previous decades. More than two years have elapsed since the Olympic Games, but instead of analysing the real reasons for the poor performance, most of the debates in Hungary are about whether we will restore our reputation by taking 8-10 gold medals in the 2012 London Olympics.People in the United Kingdom are also full of hope for a great medal tally in London, not just because of the "home team advantage" but also by reason of the UK's outstanding performance in 2008. The British team finished fourth in the final medal table at the Beijing Olympic Games despite their poor performance one-and-half decades ago in Atlanta, surprising not just the British but also the whole world. By this time, the British strategy was to invest not just in elite sports but also in grass-roots participation sports. If Hungary wants to enhance its elite sports, it must engage in similar changes. It is clear from the latest data that the Hungarian XXI Sports Strategy's aim of making Hungary a sporting nation seems an illusion. Participation sports, which are the foundation of national sporting success and provide the future talents for the elite sports sector, are in need of urgent and substantive reform.By means of secondary analyses and document analyses this article discusses the current state of British sport using the latest data. It then examines recent reforms in English participation sports as well as the latest sports strategy in England and its objectives. In all this, it makes comparison with what is happening in Hungary. The upshot is that Hungary and Britain differ at many points throughout the whole process, from strategy planning to implementation. These contrasts explain the differences in the effectiveness of the British and Hungarian processes. We hope that the outcome of this examination of the efficient Western European process and its comparison with the unsuccessful Hungarian system will assist those responsible for the development of participation sports and elite sports in Hungary.

Can Losing Lead to Winning?

Individuals, groups, and teams who are behind their opponents in competition tend to be more likely to lose. In contrast, we show that through increasing motivation, being slightly behind can actually increase success. Analysis of more than 18,000 professional basketball games illustrates that being slightly behind at halftime leads to a discontinuous increase in winning percentage. Teams behind by a point at halftime, for example, actually win more often than teams ahead by one, or approximately six percentage points more often than expected. This psychological effect is roughly half the size of the proverbial home-team advantage. Analysis of more than 45,000 collegiate basketball games finds consistent, though smaller, results. Experiments corroborate the field data and generalize their findings, providing direct causal evidence that being slightly behind increases effort and casting doubt on alternative explanations for the results. Taken together, these findings illustrate that losing can sometimes lead to winning. This paper was accepted by Peter Wakker, decision analysis.

The effectiveness of coach turnover and the effect on home team advantage, team quality and team ranking

The effectiveness of coach turnover on team performance is widely discussed in the literature due to the indirect impact of a team's performance on a club's revenues. This study examines the effect of coach turnover within a competition season by focusing on the change in team quality and the change in home team advantage under the new coach. The change in team quality or home team advantage can vary according to the team (team specific) or might be an independent quantity (non-team specific). We estimated nine possible regression models, given no change, team-specific change and non-team-specific change in quality or home team advantage. The data are the match results of Belgian male soccer teams playing in the highest national division during seven seasons. Results point to a team-specific effect of a new coach on a team's quality. This article further contributes by evaluating the new coach's success with regard to whether his ability to improve team quality also results in a better position of the team in the final ranking. A new coach will be able to improve the ranking of the team if the improved team quality under the new coach renders a positive team quality.

Can Losing Leads to Winning?

Can losing during a competitive task motivate individuals and teams to exert greater effort and perform better overall? Analysis of over 45,000 collegiate and 18,000 professional basketball games illustrates that being slightly behind at halftime leads to a discontinuous increase in winning percentage. Teams that are losing by a small amount win approximately 2 (NCAA) and 6 (NBA) percentage points more often than expected. In the NBA, this psychological effect is roughly half the size of the proverbial home-team advantage. Additional experimental evidence corroborates the field test and casts doubt on alternative explanations.

Preparation for football competition at moderate to high altitude

Analysis of approximately 100 years of home-and-away South American World Cup matches illustrate that football competition at moderate/high altitude (>2000 m) favors the home team, although this is more than compensated by the likelihood of sea-level teams winning at home against the same opponents who have descended from altitude. Nevertheless, the home team advantage at altitudes above approximately 2000 m may reflect that traditionally, teams from sea level or low altitude have not spent 1-2 weeks acclimatizing at altitude. Despite large differences between individuals, in the first few days at high altitude (e.g. La Paz, 3600 m) some players experience symptoms of acute mountain sickness (AMS) such as headache and disrupted sleep, and their maximum aerobic power (VO2max) is approximately 25% reduced while their ventilation, heart rate and blood lactate during submaximal exercise are elevated. Simulated altitude for a few weeks before competition at altitude can be used to attain partial ventilatory acclimation and ameliorated symptoms of AMS. The variety of simulated altitude exposures usually created with enriched nitrogen mixtures of air include resting or exercising for a few hours per day or sleeping approximately 8 h/night in hypoxia. Preparation for competition at moderate/high altitude by training at altitude is probably superior to simulated exposure; however, the optimal duration at moderate/high altitude is unclear. Preparing for 1-2 weeks at moderate/high altitude is a reasonable compromise between the benefits associated with overcoming AMS and partial restoration of VO2max vs the likelihood of detraining.

Home Team Advantage?: The Taking of Private Property for Sports Stadiums

Home Team Advantage?: The Taking of Private Property for Sports Stadiums

The home team advantage: reproduction in women indigenous to high altitude.

Although there is substantial evidence that environmental conditions disrupt reproductive function among newcomers to hypoxic settings, it is not certain that low oxygen pressure reduces fertility among those indigenous to high altitude. Even when fertility does appear to be relatively lower, numerous behavioral and sociocultural factors may be responsible. These are best examined within demographic frameworks that delineate a finite list of the proximate determinants of fertility. The findings presented here are based on several studies of indigenous Andean populations (Peruvian Quechua at 4000 m, Bolivian Quechua at 3100 m, Bolivian Aymara at 4000 m). Data on ovarian function suggest that neither progesterone levels nor menstrual cycle length or regularity are significantly different from those of women at lower altitudes. Data on two behavioral factors that determine fertility levels, coital frequency and infant feeding practices, suggest that the former is not likely to be of significance in co-habitating couples, but that variation in breastfeeding patterns has probably made a substantial contribution to differences in fertility among at least some populations at high altitude.

A generalized model for testing the home and favorite team advantage in point spread markets

Most sports teams play as either the favorite or the underdog and either at home or away. The failure to recognize the symmetric and interdependent relations between these characteristics has led previous researchers to use potentially biased methods to test for rationality and efficiency in football betting markets and thus to reach inappropriate conclusions. We develop a more general specification, which also incorporates ‘pick-em’ games and games played on neutral sites, and find little or no evidence against market efficiency in the NFL and college betting markets for regular season games. We do, however, uncover evidence of biased betting lines for Superbowls.

The Home Field Disadvantage in Sports Championships: Does It Exist in Hockey?

Popular belief in home field has persisted for many years in organized sports (Koppet, 1972). Recently this belief has received empirical support. Schwartz and Barsky (1977) found the home team winning 53% of the time in professional baseball, 60% in professional football, 64% in professional ice hockey, and 64% in college basketball. Edwards (1979) found the home team winning 54.4% of the time in professional football, 58.6% in college football, and 55.6% in professional baseball. Varca (1980) found the home team winning 70% of the time in college basketball. Thus, through statistical analysis, all of these studies confirm the popular belief in the home court advantage. Although these studies consistently support a home field advantage, Baumeister and Steinhilber (1984) have recently reported that under certain conditions the home field may be disadvantageous. Specifically, they hypothesized that the imminent opportunity of winning a major championship in front of a supportive audience would lead to a paradoxical decrement in performance. This was expected to be the result of self-presentational concerns that interfere with the execution of skillful responses. An analysis of archival data from championship playoffs in professional baseball and basketball supported their reasoning. Comparing home-win percentages of the first 2 games of the baseball world series with the last game during the period 1924 to 1982, Baumeister and Steinhilber found the home team winning 60% of the time in games 1 and 2 but only 40% of the time in the last game, whether the last game was game 5, 6, or 7. When the analysis was restricted to defining game 7 as the decisive game, a similar reversal of the home team advantage was apparent. Similarly, using National Basketball Association championship series between 1967 and 1982, they found the home team winning 70% of the time in games 1 through 4 but only 46% of the time in the last game, whether it was game 5 ,6 , or 7. When the analysis was restricted to the 13 series that lasted all seven games, a similar reversal of the home team advantage was apparent.

Beating the Spread: Testing the Efficiency of the Gambling Market for National Football League Games

In this paper we test the efficiency of the gambling market for National Football League games. Two efficiency tests are conducted. The first test is derived from the finance literature on market efficiency, while the second test is based on a market's being efficient when the rate of return on any gambling strategy based on publicly available information approximates the bookmaker's commission. While the first test is found to be too weak to establish conclusions about the efficiency of the NFL gambling market, the second test results, showing the existence of profitable betting opportunities, indicate that speculative inefficiencies exist in this market.