Although the home team advantage is known to exist in many sports, there are nuances of the advantage that are less well understood. In this paper, we investigate various aspects of the home team advantage including changes in the advantage over time, the relationship of the advantage to the overall scoring rate and differential advantages within leagues. The analysis is mainly based on descriptive statistics and is confined to the home team advantage pertaining to the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association.
EntineO.A.SmallD.S., The Role of Rest in the NBA Home-Court Advantage, Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 2008, 4(2), Article 6.
2.
StefaniR., Measurement and Interpretation of Home Advantage. in: KoningR.H.AlbertJ.H., ed., Statistical Thinking in Sports, Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL, 2008, 203–216.
3.
NevillA.BalmerN.WolfsonS., The Extent and Causes of Home Advantage: Some Recent Insights, Journal of Sports Sciences, 2005, 23(4), 335–336.
4.
MoskowitzT.J.WertheimL.J., Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports are Played and Games are Won, Crown Archetype, New York, 2011.
5.
BeaudoinD.SwartzT.B., Strategies for Pulling the Goalie in Hockey, The American Statistician, 2010, 64(3), 197–204.
6.
SwartzT.B.TennakoonA.NathooF.TsaoM.SarohiaP.S., Ups and Downs: Team Performance in Best-of-Seven Playo? Series, Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 2011, 7(4), Article 2.
7.
DoyleJ.M.LeardB.Variations in Home Advantage: Evidence from the National Hockey League, Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 2012, 8(2), Article 5.
8.
PriceJ.WolfersJ., Racial Discrimination Among NBA Referees, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2010, 125(4), 1859–1887.
9.
HarvilleD.A.SmithM.H., The Home-Court Advantage: How Large Is It, and Does It Vary from Team to Team?, The American Statistician, 1994, 48(1), 22–28.
10.
JonesM.B., A Note on Team-Specific Home Advantage in the NBA, Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 2008, 4(3), Article 5.
11.
ClarkeS.R.NormanJ.M., Home Ground Advantage of Individual Clubs in English Soccer, The Statistician, 1995, 44(4), 509–521.
12.
PollardR., Evidence of a Reduced Home Advantage When a Team Moves to a New Stadium, Journal of Sports Sciences, 2002, 20(12): 969–973.
13.
PollardR., World Wide Variations in Home Advantage in Association Football, Journal of Sports Sciences, 2006, 24(3), 231–240.
14.
GomezM.A.PollardR., Reduced Home Advantage for Basketball in Teams in Capital Cities, Europe. European Journal of Sport Science, 2011, 11(12), 143–148.
15.
PollardR.GomezM.A., Home Advantage in Football in South-West Europe: Long-Term Trends, Regional Variation, and Team Di?erences, European Journal of Sport Science, 20099(6), 341–352.
16.
PollardR.PollardG., Long Term Trends in Home Advantage in Professional Team Sports in North America and England (1876–2003), Journal of Sports Sciences, 2005, 23(4), 337–350.
17.
GaricanoL.Palacios-HuertaI.PrendergastC., Favoritism Under Social Pressure, The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2005, 87(2), 208–216.
18.
SchmidtS.R., Extraordinary Memories for Exceptional Events, Psychology Press, London, 2012.
