Artificial Pitches and Unfair Home Advantage in Professional Football
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper 17093/V
12 Pages Posted: 2 Oct 2017
Date Written: September 28, 2017
Abstract
In the Netherlands, in the top tier of professional football some teams play their home matches on an artificial pitch while other teams play their home matches on natural grass. This paper investigates whether or not home teams who play on an artificial pitch have an additional home advantage to the regular home advantage. The main finding is, that this is indeed the case. This implies that artificial pitches generate an unfair home advantage in a competitive sport.
Keywords: professional football, unfair competition, artificial pitch, home advantage
JEL Classification: Z21, L83
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
