Which Team Has the Best Home-Field Advantage?

[The following text appears within a diagram. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual diagram.]

BEST

BALTIMORE RAVENS

Winning %

HOME 78%

AWAY 43%

35

Teams are ranked clockwise, from best to worst, by the difference between their home and away winning percentages over 10 years. The top-ranked Ravens won 78% of home games and 43% of road games for a difference of 35 points, shown here.

34

33

FOOTBALL

BASEBALL

BASKETBAL

HOCKEY

32

BEST OVERALL

The Ravens play far better when in Baltimore. They lost every 2005 road game but were undefeated at home in 2011.

31

30

29

28

UTAH JAZZ

Winning %

HOME 67%

AWAY 40%

THE ARENA

Stadiums don’t generally have a great influence on win percentage except in baseball, where each stadium is unique.

25

24

23

22

21

THE FANS

Particularly in football, a boisterous crowd can interfere with a visiting team’s ability to communicate strategy.

20

19

18

17

CALGARY FLAMES

Winning %

HOME 58%

AWAY 41%

16

COLORADO ROCKIES

Winning %

HOME 55%

AWAY 39%

15

14

13

THE SCHEDULE

Grueling travel–especially in the NHL and NBA, where many road games are back-to-back–can take a toll on visitors.

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

THE REFS

Influenced by the crowd, officials are prone to make calls in favor of the home team, according to a 2011 analysis of referee bias.

1

0

-1

-2

WORST OVERALL

The Cowboys are indeed “America’s Team.” Last season, they won every road game but only half their home games.

WORST

DALLAS COWBOYS

Winning %

HOME 54%

AWAY 56%

HOME

10

20

30

40

50

40

30

20

10

Difference in home and away winning percentages, by sport

BASEBALL

HOME 54%

AWAY 46%

HOCKEY

HOME 55%

AWAY 45%

FOOTBALL

HOME 57%

AWAY 42%

BASKETBALL

HOME 60%

AWAY 40%

AWAY

8

10

15

19

Worst

Best

10

20

30

40

50

40

30

20

10

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE CALCULATED BY SUBTRACTING AVERAGE AWAY-WIN PERCENTAGE FROM AVERAGE HOME-WIN PERCENTAGE. CALCULATIONS BASED ON COMPLETED REGULAR SEASONS FROM THE PAST 10 YEARS OR FROM THE FIRST YEAR OF THE TEAM’S CURRENT STADIUM.

SOURCES: SPORTS-REFERENCE.COM; SCORECASTING