In the world of sports there are many factors that can determine the outcome of an event, the biggest most obvious factor being the skill level of the competitors. However there are psychological factors that affect the players on both sides. Home field advantage is a term that is usually coined when it comes to professional sports, I will be making an argument that home field advantage can have a devastating effect on the outcome of North American games. After doing some research I found the 3 biggest factors in home field advantage are; 1.Location, 2.Physical discrepancies of the field/ice and 3.Referees. The four major sports/leagues in North America are; the NFL, NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball. These are the four sports that North Americans get the most excited for meaning they support their team more passionately and enthusiastically.
Some of the most enthusiastic fans are located in Seattle, Washington. Home of the; Seattle Seahawks (NFL) and Seattle Mariners (Major League Baseball.) Seattle is a prime example of the location element when it comes to home field advantage. The city of Seattle is located in the pacific northwest, a 12.5 hour drive from the closest city that has a professional team. The isolation of Seattle fans means that there are more fans in a close area and that the people have nothing else to see except for their home team. When there are less teams around for people to support it means that the fans are more passionate about the only team. The Seattle Seahawks are a professional football team, their fans are notoriously loud, passionate and sometimes rowdy. This was proven to be the case in the 2013 season when Seattle fans broke the sound record at a sporting stadium, they reached a whopping 137.6 decibels crushing the previous record that was set at 115 decibels at a cricket match in India. Weather is another big decider of the game, teams that are located in colder areas of the country and have to play outdoors tend to do better at home than teams that are located in warmer climates. In both the NFL and Major League Baseball the “colder” teams tend to have more passionate fans too because they are willing to risk the cold in order to support their team.
One of the more unfair aspects of Major League Baseball is the physical discrepancies of the different stadiums. There are no set rules for the dimensions of the baseball diamond, there are only guidelines that teams have to follow. This causes for different teams to have differently shaped stadiums some teams have bigger fields others have smaller. The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team, their stadium is famous for having “the green monster.” The green monster is not their mascot, it’s their advantage when it comes to playing baseball. In Red Sox stadium has a massive wall that stretches the length of left field, the wall is 37 feet high making it much harder to hit homeruns in Boston. In the NFL, NBA and NHL there are specific rules that make it so teams can’t have physical discrepancies throughout the league. However according to “Two Minute Warning.com” teams tend to get more wins at home as the season progresses. This is because by the end of the season teams have gotten used to their stadium/arenas by practicing and playing their all year. This is most prevalent in the NHL where hockey teams have more chance to get a feel for their home ice because of the long schedule and proximity to the boards, glass etc. The boards are a big factor in hockey games, players learn where the softer boards with more give are and try not to check the other team there but rather try to check them into the harder boarders with less give, the players also get a feel for the bounces that the puck has. It’s also just common sense, the more you play in an area, the more familiarity you have with it.
“Home teams essentially get slightly preferential treatment from the officials, whether it’s a called third strike in baseball or, in soccer, a foul that results in a penalty kick.” According to Stephen Dubner from “Freakanomics.com” the referees have a large role in determining the outcome of the game. Dubner argues that officials have a slight bias when it comes to the home team. According to Dubner there is psychological effect on the referees. People tend to want to fit it, conformity is an issue that people have historically struggled with and is still an issue today. The officials at a game will want to favor the home team because they want to please the crowd. The people that are the most abused at a sporting event are not the players getting tackled or body checked, it’s the refs who take the most verbal abuse from the fans, coaches and sometimes players. Sometimes things can really get out of control and the officials can get physically harmed. At an amateur soccer game in Brazil a referee got murdered by the fans because he gave a red card to a player. The fans rushed the field and decapitated him, they finished by putting his head on a steak and sticking it into the ground. According to “The Fix is In.com” NHL home-teams had 20% fewer penalties called on them, in the NBA home teams shoot more free throws than the away team, in the NFL home-teams have less penalties called on them. Why is there such a large amount of favoritism in professional sporting events? I would argue that teams who are encouraged by their fans tend to play better, take fewer penalties and argue more with the refs. The teams that want the win more than the opposition always play better and usually win the game.