Eliminating supportive crowds reduces referee bias

J Reade, Dominik Schreyer and Carl Singleton

No em-dp2020-25, Economics Discussion Papers from Department of Economics, University of Reading

Abstract: We use a series of historical natural experiments in association football to test whether social pressure from a home stadium crowd affected behaviour and outcomes. The standout effect of an empty stadium was that referees cautioned visiting players less often, by over a third of a yellow card per match or once for every twenty-two fouls committed. Stadium crowds caused referees to favour the home team in their decision making. Empty stadiums appear to have reduced the overall home advantage in the final outcomes of football matches, but we cannot statistically reject no effect.

Keywords: Home Advantage; Referee Bias; Social Pressure; Attendance; Natural Experiments; Sports Economics; Coronavirus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D91 L83 Z20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50 pages
Date: 2020-12-05, Revised 2021-12-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-spo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Published in Economic Inquiry, 2022, 60(3): 1416-1436, https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13063

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http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/economics/emdp202025.pdf Revised version, 2021 (application/pdf)

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Journal Article: Eliminating supportive crowds reduces referee bias (2022)
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