Losing the Twelfth Man: Will empty stadiums eliminate home advantage in football, and could placebo crowds rectify this?

Saunders, Bryan

doi:10.31236/osf.io/ujq4b

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Football (soccer) is considered the biggest game on this planet and especially the excitement and unpredictability of matches is intriguing for fans around the globe (Schreyer et al 2018 ). Fans and spectators are commonly referred to as the “12th man” (Saunders 2020 ) and constitute an important part of the modern entertainment product “professional football” (Edensor 2015 ). From a scientific perspective, fans are seen as an (external) determinant in the production of sporting success, and consequently of economic success (Daumann 2019 ; Dietl et al 2005 ;).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2022

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The phenomenon of home advantage (home bias) is well-analyzed in the scientific literature. But only the COVID-19 pandemic enabled studies on this phenomenon—for the first time in history—on a global scale. Thus, several studies to date examined the effects of empty stadiums by comparing regular matches (with supporters) before the COVID-19 restrictions with so-called ghost games (games without supporters) during the pandemic. To synthesize the existing knowledge and offer an overview regarding the effects of ghost games on home advantage we provide a systematic literature review on this topic. Our findings—based on 26 primary studies—indicate that ghost games have a considerable impact on the phenomenon of home advantage. Deeper analysis further indicates that this effect is based on a reduced “referee bias” and a lack of “emotional support from the ranks”. From a psychological perspective, we argue that our conclusions are highly relevant by emphasizing decision making under pressure and crowd-induced motivation in sports. From a socio-economic perspective, we argue that our findings legitimize a discussion regarding compensation of fans after sporting success as plausible and worth considering. Thus, our results are significant for scientists, sports and team managers, media executives, fan representatives and other persons responsible in the football industry.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2022

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“…Fans love football and especially the excitement and uncertainty of the game (Schreyer et al, 2018). They are also commonly referred to as the "12 th man" (Saunders, 2020) and constitute an important part of the modern entertainment product "professional football" (Edensor, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Leitner¹,

Daumann²,

Follert³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The phenomenon of home advantage (or home bias) is well-analyzed in the scientific literature and is traditionally an interdisciplinary topic. Current theorizing views the fans as a crucial factor influencing the outcome of a football (a.k.a. soccer) game, as the crowd influences the behavior of the players and officials involved in the game through social pressure. So far, the phenomenon has been difficult to study because, although there have always been single matches where the spectators were excluded, this never happened globally to all teams within a league or even across leagues. From an empirical perspective, the situation with COVID-19 governmental measures, especially the ban of fans from stadiums all over the world, can be interpreted as a “natural experiment” and analyzed accordingly. Thus, several studies examined the influence of supporters by comparing matches before the COVID-19 restrictions with so-called ghost games during the pandemic. To synthesize the existing knowledge after over a year of ghost games and to offer the scientific community and other stakeholders an overview regarding the numerous studies, we provide a systematic literature review that summarizes the main findings of empirical studies and discusses the results accordingly. Our findings - based on 16 studies - indicate that ghost games have a considerable impact on the phenomenon of home advantage. No study found an increased home advantage in ghost games. Rather, our results show that 13 (from 16 included) analyzed studies conclude – based on their individually analyzed data – a more or less significant decrease of home advantage in ghost games. We conclude that our findings are highly relevant from a both socio-economic and behavioral perspective and highlight the indirect and direct influence of spectators and fans on football. Our results have – besides for the scientific community – a high importance for sports and team managers, media executives, fan representatives and other responsible.

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Investigating the influence of fans on home advantage outcomes in association football across Europe

Bhagwandeen,

Mohammed,

Dialsingh

2024

Soccer & Society

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Losing the Twelfth Man: Will empty stadiums eliminate home advantage in football, and could placebo crowds rectify this?

Abstract: Empty stadia in football might have huge consequences on how the football season ends. How can we rectify this?Losing the Twelfth Man: Will empty stadiums eliminate home advantage in football, and could placebo crowds rectify this?

Cited by 3 publications

References 7 publications

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

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

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

Investigating the influence of fans on home advantage outcomes in association football across Europe

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