Effects of a Crowd Cheering

The home-town crowd cheering their team on can have a significant impact on the game being played, whatever the sport may be. This is commonly known as the home-field advantage, and can be broken down into several specific effects. The cheers of one team's fans within the crowd can also influence the other team's crowd in the stands.

  1. Psychological Boost for the Home Team

    • One effect of a cheering crowd on a game being played is that the home team takes a psychological boost from the support of so many fans. Professional sports players often cite the support of the crowd as a benefit to their game play. This is a major part of the phenomenon known as the home-field advantage, where teams playing at home are more likely to win the game.

    Crowd Factions

    • No matter where a game is played, there are always a few supporters for the away team, and these away-team supporters can have an effect on the other members of the crowd supporting the home team. When a point is scored by the away team, for example, away team fans will cheer, and the home-town crowd may respond by getting a chant going to help rally their team. If the opposition team is dominating the home team though, cheers from opposition supporters may help to further silence the home team fans.

    Demoralize the Away Team

    • Another effect the crowd has is to demoralize the away team. Fans will often heckle an away-team goal tender, for example, to try to make the goal tender feel nervous or under scrutiny. Booing the away team or staying silent after they score a point is another way crowds affect the atmosphere of the game. Most professional athletes are used to this, but this demoralization of the away team is another aspect of how home-field advantage works.

    Influence on the Referees

    • A Harvard University study used data from 5,000 English Premier League games and 50 different referees, and found that for every 10,000 crowd members, the home team has a 0.1 goal advantage. The study showed that the away team is more likely to give away penalties and less likely to score goals. The researchers believe the cause of the advantage is the referees being influenced by the crowd. This is yet another aspect of how the home-team advantage works.