A brief description on the psychology behind home team advantage in sport.

1. HOME TEAM ADVANTAGE
SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY
BY JEREMY MUTTON (3060868)

2. INTRODUCTION
• Home team advantage is a phenomenon in sport that isn‟t quite
understood.
• Four factors are believed to be responsible for this advantage [1]:
- Rule factor
- Learning factor
- Travel factor
- Crowd factor
• Considered the second most important indicator of a potential result
after „quality of the opposition‟.

3. HOME TEAM ADVANTAGE
• Defined as “the consistent finding that home teams in sports
competitions win over 50% of the games played under a balanced
home and away schedule” [2].
• It works by affecting the psychology of players, both positively for the
home team and negatively for the away team.
• Home advantage increases with crowd size, but plateaus at a certain
size [2].
• Good examples of home advantage include France in international
soccer and India in cricket.

4. STATISTICAL EXAMPLE

5. THE RULE FACTOR
• Play a minor role in home team advantage.
• Relates to sports where the rules can advantage the home team, such
as in Major League Baseball.

6. THE LEARNING FACTOR
• Plays a minor role in home team advantage.
• Relates to the familiarity with local conditions (including background
noise).
• Most powerful when the away team has to play on an unfamiliar
surface or acclimatize to a new environment.

7. THE TRAVEL FACTOR
• Plays a minor role in home team advantage.
• Relates to the fatigue and disruption of familiar routines of the away
team.
• Most powerful when towards the end of season and when the away
team must travel long distances (ie. Internationally).

8. THE CROWD FACTOR
• Plays a major role in home team advantage.
• The crowd has two major effects:
-Motivate players through verbal support
-Subconsciously influence the officials to favour the home team

9. HOME TEAM DISADVANTAGE
• Some sporting teams can actually experience a home team disadvantage.
• This generally occurs if the players experience excess pressure or the crowd
are unsupportive.
• Could also be due to a dilution of the normal effects of home team
advantage.
• Evidence of a reduced home advantage when a team moves to a new
stadium [3].

10. PSYCHOLOGICAL STATES
• Players experience less anxiety and tension, and more confidence
and motivation when playing at home [4].
• Self-fulfilling philosophy.
• Placebo effect of playing away (believe it will be harder).

11. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS/ FUTURE
RESEARCH
• In sport, the practical applications of this are self-explanatory.
• Minimising the seats available to away supporters is a known method
for creating a positive atmosphere for the home team.
• Home team conditions should cater for the teams particular
strengths, such as green/bouncy wickets in Australia.
• Future research should be tailored towards methods of keeping
athletes psychologically motivated and confident away from home.

12. CONCLUSION
• The phenomenon of home team advantage has been extensively
observed but not always understood.
• The four factors contributing to a home team advantage are rule
factors, learning factors, travel factors and crowd factors.
• The largest contribution comes from crowd factors, especially
influencing decisions made by the officials.
• All these advantages work by affecting the psychological state of the
athlete, putting them into a positive frame of mind.

13. REFERENCES
[1] Nevill AM, Holder RL. Home advantage in sport. J Sports Med. 1999 Jun;
28(4):221-36.
[2] Courneya KS, Carron AV. The home advantage in sport competitions. J
Sport Exerc Psychol. 1992 Jan; 14(1):13-28.
[3] Pollard R. Evidence of a reduced home advantage when a team moves to
a new stadium. J Sports Sci. 2002 Apr; 20(12):969-73.
[4] Terry PC, Walrond N, Carron AV. The influence of game location on
athletes‟ psychological states. J Sci Med Sport. 1998 Jan; 1(1):29-37.