Once upon a time, it was statistically accurate to say that sports teams playing on their home turf won more games than visiting teams. For decades, this was true.
Spoiler alert: this is no longer the case. The home field advantage is disappearing, especially in professional sports.
To understand the shift, we first need to understand why the home field advantage is a phenomenon in the first place. It’s a question that's engaged scientists across disciplines, from statisticians to social and sports psychologists.
The root causes, researchers have determined, may involve factors related to travel, posited to affect the physical experience of the players. But it's the support of the home team's crowd — overwhelmingly seen as a psychological force — that's the biggest factor in the home field advantage, and is directly tied to its decline today.
