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Diminished Home Advantage in Chinese Basketball during COVID-19: The Role of Team Strength and Local Temperature

Author

Listed:
  • Zilong Li

    (School of Economics, University College Dublin; Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin, Ireland)

  • Xidong Guo

    (Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Zuzanna Studnicka

    (School of Economics, University College Dublin, Ireland)

  • Jiming Zhu

    (Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

Abstract

We examine the home advantage in the Chinese Basketball Association during the “neutral venues policy”, a period of approximately 2.5 years when games were relocated to neutral sites due to China’s strict COVID-19 regulations. We observe a reduced home advantage under this policy, providing a natural experiment to analyze the heterogeneous effects of neutral venues. We investigate these effects from two perspectives: (1) the relative strength of the home team and (2) the climate conditions of the home team’s original location. We find that stronger home teams are less affected by playing in neutral venues, suggesting that such teams rely less on the benefits of their home ground. Moreover, teams based in colder regions experience a more pronounced decline in home advantage during winter when they are unable to play on their home courts.

Suggested Citation

  • Zilong Li & Xidong Guo & Zuzanna Studnicka & Jiming Zhu, 2024. "Diminished Home Advantage in Chinese Basketball during COVID-19: The Role of Team Strength and Local Temperature," Working Papers 202408, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucd:wpaper:202408
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    File URL: http://www.ucd.ie/geary/static/publications/workingpapers/gearywp202408.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2024
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Home advantage; COVID-19; Neutral venues; Cold temperature; Team strength;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Z20 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - General

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