Causal Effects of Crowd Support on Home Advantage: Evidence from Professional Handball

This study examines home advantage in German handball, focusing on the impact of varying attendance due to COVID-19. Like in other sports, home advantage is acknowledged in handball, but the audience’s impact on it remained unexplored. Analyzing data from 3,235 matches of the first and second German handball Bundesliga, we find a statistical home advantage consistent with prior research. During the pandemic, we identify a significant decrease in home advantage without spectators in the first division, while the second division remains unaffected. This applies to both the winning probability and the points achieved by the home teams. Additionally, we demonstrate a pre-pandemic referee bias; however, it only contributed to the existing home advantage to a small extent. Accordingly, spectators appear to be able to influence handball referees, but to a much smaller extent than in other sports.