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Does Crowd Support Drive the Home Advantage in Professional Football? Evidence from German Ghost Games during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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  • Kai Fischer
  • Justus Haucap
Abstract
This paper examines the relation between crowd support and home advantage in men’s professional football in making use of a unique “natural experiment†induced by restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic: the so-called ghost games in the top three German football divisions at the end of the 2019/2020 season. We find that there is a reduced home advantage in the first division, whereas no change is observed in the second and third divisions. Our regression analysis indicates that the decrease in the home advantage and the heterogeneity across divisions are not sensitive to a variety of performance, location, and team covariates and are best explained through the lower occupancy rate in the stadia. Hence, the decrease in occupancy to zero at the ghost games has been less dramatic for teams that have been used to low occupancy rates. We cannot find strong evidence for a change in referee behavior or teams’ tactics as main impact channels of occupancy rates on the home advantage. Hence, we argue that psychological reasons are of higher importance.

Suggested Citation

  • Kai Fischer & Justus Haucap, 2021. "Does Crowd Support Drive the Home Advantage in Professional Football? Evidence from German Ghost Games during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 22(8), pages 982-1008, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:22:y:2021:i:8:p:982-1008
    DOI: 10.1177/15270025211026552
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    Cited by:

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    7. Kai Fischer & Justus Haucap, 2022. "Home advantage in professional soccer and betting market efficiency: The role of spectator crowds," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(2), pages 294-316, May.
    8. Carl Singleton & Alex Bryson & Peter Dolton & James Reade & Dominik Schreyer, 2022. "Economics lessons from sports during the COVID-19 pandemic," Chapters, in: Paul M. Pedersen (ed.), Research Handbook on Sport and COVID-19, chapter 2, pages 9-18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Ferraresi Massimiliano & Gucciardi Gianluca, 2023. "Team performance and the perception of being observed: Experimental evidence from top-level professional football," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 24(1), pages 1-31, February.
    10. Justin Ehrlich & Joel Potter, 2023. "Estimating the effect of attendance on home advantage in the National Basketball Association," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(11), pages 1471-1482, June.
    11. Christoph Buehren & Dominic Jung, 2022. "Performing without pressure? The effect of ghost games on effort- and skill-based tasks in the football Bundesliga," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202227, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    12. Minnich, Aljoscha, 2022. "Do fans’ emotions influence charitable donations? Evidence from monetary and returnable cup donations in German soccer stadiums," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    13. Starke, Stephan & Vischer, Lars & Dilger, Alexander, 2022. "Change in home bias due to ghost games in the NFL," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 6/2022, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
    14. Fabrizio Colella & Patricio S. Dalton & Giovanni Giusti, 2024. "Moral Support and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(7), pages 4614-4628, July.
    15. J. James Reade & Dominik Schreyer & Carl Singleton, 2022. "Eliminating supportive crowds reduces referee bias," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1416-1436, July.
    16. Kim, Chang Hyun & Lee, Kyung Yul & Kwon, Young Sun, 2022. "Does the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology mitigate referee bias in professional football leagues?," 31st European Regional ITS Conference, Gothenburg 2022: Reining in Digital Platforms? Challenging monopolies, promoting competition and developing regulatory regimes 265643, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    17. Alex Farnell, 2023. "False Start? An Analysis of NFL Penalties With and Without Crowds," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(6), pages 695-716, August.
    18. Christopher Magee & Amy Wolaver, 2023. "Crowds and the Timing of Goals and Referee Decisions1," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(6), pages 801-828, August.
    19. Sabrina Demarie & Emanuele Chirico & Christel Galvani, 2022. "Prediction and Analysis of Tokyo Olympic Games Swimming Results: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Swimmers’ Performance," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-17, February.
    20. Bär, Sören & Benkel, Cathrin & Bezold, Thomas & Biebl, Petra & Breuer, Markus & Budzinski, Oliver & Chatrath, Stefan & Daumann, Frank & Faulstich, Sebastian & Feddersen, Arne & Frick, Bernd & Gassmann, 2023. "Wettbewerb und Wettbewerbspolitik im Sport: Sammelband zur 25. Jahrestagung des Arbeitskreises Sportökonomie," KCV Schriftenreihe, FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, KCV KompetenzCentrum für angewandte Volkswirtschaftslehre, volume 7, number 282198 edited by FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, KompetenzCentrum für angewandte Volkswirtschaftslehre (KC.
    21. Michael Christian Leitner & Frank Daumann & Florian Follert & Fabio Richlan, 2023. "The cauldron has cooled down: a systematic literature review on home advantage in football during the COVID-19 pandemic from a socio-economic and psychological perspective," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 605-633, June.
    22. Brad R. Humphreys & Alexander Marsella & Levi Perez, 2022. "The effect of monitoring and crowds on crime and law enforcement: A natural experiment from European football," Working Papers 22-08, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    23. Todd McFall & John Whitehead, 2024. "Measuring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Elite Swimming Performance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 25(5), pages 634-656, June.
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    25. Jan C. van Ours, 2024. "They didn’t know what they got till the crowd was gone," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-014/V, Tinbergen Institute.

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