The Effect of the Audience on the Home Advantage

Abstract

According to a social psychological model for the home advantage, a supportive audience encourages the home team to play up to potential, while an unsupportive audience has the opposite effect. The audience's biased behavior results in an increase in penalties on the visiting team. The model was tested by conducting a content analysis of 56 matches shown on Finnish television between July 1984 and March 1986. The content analysis of each match registered the audience's clear reactions (N = 126), goals, and penalties over a 5-minute playing time. The results did not confirm our theoretical model. When the audience supported the home team, the team scored more points and made more fouls than the visiting team. At the same time, the home team also scored more points when the audience supported the visiting team.