why are football matches “at home” or as “visitors” treated like an advantage or disadvantage?

Question

is there any way in which this fact could affect a match by itself?

In: 8717

Answer 1

In NFL football, the home crowd tends to be loud while the visitor is about to snap on offense and quiet while the home team is. It makes the visiting team more likely to have an mistake caused play calling timing or clarity. Also as fields vary (surface composition, weather) the home team is more accustomed to peculiarities of their own environment than the visitor is likely to be.

In hockey, the home team has ‘last change’ before faceoffs – the visitor has to commit which players are on the ice then the home team can choose the optimal matchup for that.

In baseball, the home team bats second each inning.