Playing on artificial turf may be an advantage for Norwegian soccer teams
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Lars Magnus Hvattum
Abstract
Soccer is as popular as ever, and the sport attracts significant attention from spectators, sponsors, media, and academics. One aspect of the sport that has received relatively little attention, is the effect of the playing surface on the sporting performance of a team. In particular, this paper is concerned with measuring the performance of teams that switch from playing their games on natural grass to playing their games on artificial turf. It is shown that teams, on average, achieve improved results after switching, and that this, at least in part, can be explained by an increased home field advantage.
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank Kristian Thun for obtaining data on teams switching from natural grass to artificial turf. An Associate Editor and two reviewers are thanked for their comments that led to valuable improvements of the original manuscript.
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©2015 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- A stochastic rank ordered logit model for rating multi-competitor games and sports
- The implied volatility of a sports game
- Modeling spatial batting ability using a known covariance matrix
- Rethinking the FIFA World Cup™ final draw
- Playing on artificial turf may be an advantage for Norwegian soccer teams
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- A stochastic rank ordered logit model for rating multi-competitor games and sports
- The implied volatility of a sports game
- Modeling spatial batting ability using a known covariance matrix
- Rethinking the FIFA World Cup™ final draw
- Playing on artificial turf may be an advantage for Norwegian soccer teams
