The Home Advantage
An examination of home field and court advantages of Big 12 Conference schools within Texas
What is the home advantage? In sports, the team playing at home tends to have a significant advantage. It is a "well-established phenomenon" in many sports (Gómez-Ruano et al.).
The home advantage is broadly accepted as truth in the world of sports (Ribeiro et al.). However, there are clear differences in its effectiveness based on weather, facilities, officiating bias, fan support and more.
Is the home advantage more beneficial to certain programs?
THEORY: Big 12 Conference schools in Texas (TCU, Texas, Baylor and Texas Tech) have varying home advantages within football, basketball and baseball.
DISCLAIMER: Total success is not relevant to the study. The overall performance of a team is not considered. Rather, the study reviews performance at home compared to performance on the road.
METHODS
In order to compare TCU, Texas, Baylor and Texas, the schools needed to be on a level playing field. The data is entirely from Big 12 Conference play, so each program has a near identical strength of schedule. Some seasons have rotating differences in game location every other year; data was pulled from 2013 to 2023 to ensure fairness and to discover longterm trends.
Three sports were considered: men's basketball, football and baseball.
The variables include overall winning percentage, home winning percentage, road winning percentage, home point differential and road point differential. Home field advantage was calculated by subtracting road winning percentage from home winning percentage.
1,904 Big 12 Conference play box scores were manually reviewed on GoFrogs.com, TexasSports.com, BaylorBears.com and TexasTech.com. The sources are the official athletic websites of each school.
Differences by sport
The twelve programs considered had a 4.76% or higher winning percentage at home. This, once again, proves the concept of the home advantage. In addition, all programs had higher run or point differentials at home versus on the road.
As a sport, basketball had the highest home advantage. It doubled football and nearly doubled baseball; the four schools averaged a 25.23% higher winning percentage on their home court.
In baseball, schools had a 13.38% higher winning percentage at home versus on the road. For football, it was 10.57%.
FOOTBALL (2013-2022)
Baylor (55.95%), Texas (58.22%) and TCU's (58.42%) total football winning percentages were similar. The home field advantages, however, were different.
Baylor had the highest home field advantage (16.67%), while Texas Tech had the lowest (4.76%). Tech's home field advantage in football was the lowest of considered programs of any sport; no other home field advantage was less than 8.66%, which was Texas' football advantage.
Christina Huang, a sports editor at the Daily Texan, said Texas' home advantage fluctuates based on the game. She used Texas' games against Alabama and TCU in 2022 as examples.
"There's always a few games every year that people really really care about," Huang said. "And people really, really try to get out and try hard to be good fans."
Michael Haag, a sports at the Baylor Lariat, said he was surprised Baylor football's home advantage was high.
"I don't think [McLane Stadium is] as imposing of a venue as, you know, it could be," Haag said. "They have their moments where it gets kind of loud there, but overall this fanbase can probably step it up in a way."
Haag said the home advantage helps, but Baylor's poor performance on the road stands out. He referenced TCU's win over the Bears on Nov. 6, 2021, when quarterback Chandler Morris had 531 all purpose yards.
"Obviously, home field advantage is great, but for Baylor, it's night and day with this team, at home or on the road," Haag said.
TCU had a 12.17% higher winning percentage at Amon. G Carter Stadium. The Frogs had a positive 394 point differential in Fort Worth and a minus 32 differential on the road.
BASEBALL (2013-2022)
DISCLAIMER: Big 12 Conference play did not occur in 2020 due to COVID-19, so the season was not considered. The 2023 season is still in progress and was not considered.
TCU had the highest home-field advantage with a 16.82% higher winning percentage at Lupton Baseball Stadium. In 214 total games, they had a winning percentage of 70.09% at home and 53.27% on the road. The Frogs also boasted the highest total winning percentage, 61.68%.
Although the Baylor Bears had the lowest total winning percentage (55.95%), they had the second highest home advantage (15.27%).
Texas Tech and Texas had 10.19% and 11.22% home advantages, respectively.
Although TCU had a 70.09% winning percentage at home, Texas Tech had a higher run differential at its home ballpark, Rip Griffin Park.
Haag discussed the unpredictability of baseball, adding "you never know what you're going to get."
"Being at your ballpark where you play or practice is always nice," Haag said. "Baseball is a bit of a wildcard. It’s a crazy sport. There's so many variables to it, and a lot that can factor into a win or a loss. Also playing a series would probably factor into that too."
A player's perspective
Kurtis Byrne, a junior, is a catcher and designated hitter for TCU baseball. Byrne has been a member of the baseball program since 2020 and has played countless games at Lupton Baseball Stadium.
In Byrne's first two full seasons, the Horned Frogs were 17-7 in Big 12 Conference play at Lupton Baseball Stadium.
Byrne shared what he enjoyed about Lupton Baseball Stadium, calling it "one of the best college baseball environments in the country."
Byrne also credited UT, saying it's a "cool experience" to play in Austin.
BASKETBALL (2014-2023)
Texas Tech had the highest home-court advantage, tallying a 35.23% higher winning percentage in Lubbock. Tech's basketball advantage was the highest of any program of any sport considered. The second highest was Texas' basketball advantage, 28.48%.
Baylor had a 71.26% winning percentage at home, which was the highest of any basketball program. Due to the Bears' solid 57.3% road winning percentage, their home advantage was only 13.96%.
Texas and Texas Tech's winning percentages at home weren't as high, but poor road percentages increased home-court advantage; Texas and Tech won 37.07% and 29.21% of their games on the road, respectively.
TCU tallied the lowest total winning percentage, 32.02%. When they did win games, it was usually at Schollmaier Arena; the Frogs won 39 games at home and 18 on the road.
TCU suffered heavy defeats in opposing arenas, scoring 834 less points than its opponents.
Texas Tech's immense advantage translated to point differential; the Red Raiders had the largest separation between differentials on the road and home.
When Haag thinks of Texas Tech basketball, the home advantage is the first thing that comes to mind. He credited Chris Beard, Texas Tech's head coach from 2016 to 2021, for building the atmosphere, mentioning Tech's National Championship appearance in 2019.
"They also have fantastic facilities," Haag said. "I've heard I've actually never been to Lubbock, but I've heard it's just phenomenal there."
Haag added Red Raider basketball fans are loyal and passionate.
"It's really tough for teams to play [in Lubbock] and walk out of there with a win."
According to Sederick Oliver, a sports reporter for TCU 360, basketball's home advantage is more significant due to the proximity of the players and fans.
"Basketball players are able to just hear and see and feel the crowd and feed off the fans in a way that athletes from other sports can't," Oliver said. "Being able to visibly see and audibly hear something like a mass of people cheering you and congratulating and supporting you is something that, obviously, can drive you to a level of success."
Clearly, home crowds benefit the home team. Oliver pointed out that in basketball, the home crowd does plenty to distract and affect the away team as well.
"Fans can carry a level of pride and dignity and disrespect," Oliver said. "Fans ensure that [opposing players] hear them every time they see air balls for the rest of the game."
References
Gómez-Ruano, Miguel A., et al. Home Advantage in Sport. Routledge, 2021.
Ribeiro, Haroldo V., et al. “The Advantage of Playing Home in NBA: Microscopic, Team-Specific and Evolving Features.” PLOS ONE, edited by Matjaz Perc, no. 3, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Mar. 2016, p. e0152440. Crossref, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0152440.
“Baylor University Athletics- Official Athletics Website.” Baylor University Athletics, https://baylorbears.com/. Accessed 5 May 2023.
“TCU Athletics - Official Athletics Website.” TCU Athletics, http://GoFrogs.com. Accessed 5 May 2023.
“Texas Tech Red Raiders - Official Athletics Website.” Texas Tech Red Raiders, https://texastech.com/index.aspx. Accessed 5 May 2023.
“University of Texas Athletics - Official Athletics Website.” University of Texas Athletics, https://texassports.com/. Accessed 5 May 2023.
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