The Home Advantage Revisited

Winning and Crowd Support in an Era of National Publics

Bibliographic Data

ID2348811
AuthorsD R Smith (0000-0002-1004-9487, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume27
Issue4
Pages346-371
Publication date2003-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Sport and Social Issues (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0193-7235 • E-ISSN: 1552-7638
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0193732503258637
OpenAlexW2120780748
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited33

Home teams win over 50% of sporting contests. The sociological appeal of this is the assumption that home advantages are partly the result of the support fans provide, with the collective inspiring teams to performances above normal achievements. Recent changes in professional sports suggest that home support may not be as strong as once expected as structural conditions producing the home advantage have shifted. Distancing of players from fans via free agency and rapid salary escalation, coupled with marketing designed to create national publics, can produce declines in the home advantage. Levels of home advantage have decreased over 20 years, and now, an increase in crowd size reduces the home team's chances of winning. Teams can still garner support from home crowds, but professional sports are less likely to be representations for local communities; the social bases of the home advantage have been eroded by economic forces and league marketing

Advertising · Agency (philosophy · Appeal · Business · Competitive advantage · Computer security · Crowds · Economics · League · Market economy · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Publics · Salary · Sociology · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports Analytics and Performance · Sports, Gender, and Society · Marketing

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