Gambling 101: What Is Home Field Advantage?
If a team is playing at home can it affect the bettings odds? We are breaking down Home Field advantage today on Sports Illustrated's Gambling 101.
From the roar of a crowd, to avoiding lengthy travel time, plus having the ability to play on your turf- teams enjoy advantages when playing in their hometown.
Sportsbooks recognize this and home field advantage is carefully weighed by bookmakers before they post any betting odds. Also known as home ice advantage in hockey, and home court advantage in basketball, benefits of playing at home vary depending on the sport.
But for this example lets talk about the NFL. Home field advantage usually translates to three points.
If New England is a -5 point favorite against the Bills at a neutral venue, the Patriots would be -8 point chalk if the game was played at their home stadium.
The Bills would be closer to a +2 point underdog if Buffalo hosted the match.
There are 2 key things to consider when betting on home field advantage - travel and weather.
Traveling can disrupt circadian rhythms and crossing several time zones can be a disadvantage to a visitor.
Then there's weather. If a team like the Saints is used to playing in a climate-controlled stadium and has a matchup in Green Bay- they're not used to playing outdoors while it's freezing and snowing- so this can be a disadvantage as well.
While the impact isn’t equal across all sports, venues and teams, home field advantage affects betting odds on every competition.
The sport most influenced is soccer followed by basketball, football, hockey and baseball.
Proper research will reveal which teams possess the best home field advantage. But if you need help make sure to bookmark Sports Illustrated's Glossary of Terms and tune in for another Gambling 101 here on SI.com
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