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Home Advantage Revisited: Did COVID Level the Playing Fields?

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  • Strawiński Paweł

    (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Długa 44/50, 00-241 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Krawczyk Michał

    (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Długa 44/50, 00-241 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic swept fans out of the stadiums, but matches continued to be played in most major football leagues. We make use of this natural experiment to investigate if home field advantage disappears when the home team is not supported by the fans. Focusing on four top European football leagues, we find such an effect in the Bundesliga only. We propose that this singularity may be related to the special role that the fan associations play in German football.

Suggested Citation

  • Strawiński Paweł & Krawczyk Michał, 2022. "Home Advantage Revisited: Did COVID Level the Playing Fields?," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 9(56), pages 56-67, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:ceuecj:v:9:y:2022:i:56:p:56-67:n:3
    DOI: 10.2478/ceej-2022-0004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Luke S. Benz & Michael J. Lopez, 2023. "Estimating the change in soccer’s home advantage during the Covid-19 pandemic using bivariate Poisson regression," AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis, Springer;German Statistical Society, vol. 107(1), pages 205-232, March.
    2. Thorsten Schank & Vivien Voigt & Christian Orthey, 2024. "During and after COVID-19: What happened to the home advantage in Germany's first football division?," Papers 2411.12509, arXiv.org.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    football; home-field advantage; COVID-19; supporters; fans;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • M50 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - General
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • Z2 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics

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