Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Home Advantage in Euroleague Basketball

Abstract

Objectives: The study aimed to examine how training and competition conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic affected home advantage (HA) in Euroleague Basketball (EB) players.

Methods: A non-participant observational analysis was conducted, comparing seasons before the pandemic (2018-2019, 2019-2020) to the pandemic-affected season (2020-2021). Paired t-tests and Wilcoxon tests were used to assess variables with normal and non-normal distributions.

Results: Significant changes (p < .05) were observed in several offensive and defensive performance variables during the pandemic, including free throw attempts, three-point attempt rate, and possessions. HA dropped to 51% after the pandemic, compared to 70% pre-pandemic (large effect size). Games without spectators showed the greatest decline in HA (51%; p = .018, large ES), but when some crowd presence was allowed, HA remained above 50%. No significant difference between home and away teams was noted for most performance metrics.

The results imply that the absence of fans during the COVID-19 lockdown diminished HA. Post-pandemic recovery of HA was only evident for free throw attempts (large ES).

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted home advantage in basketball by reducing crowd influence, which particularly affected performance-related variables. With games conducted without spectators, HA diminished, highlighting the role of audience presence in competitive sports.