Home-field advantage

Practicalworkpsychologysystems

Etymology

A 20th-century sports phrase (also "home advantage" or "home-court advantage") for the measurable tendency of teams to win more often at their own venue, credited to crowd support, familiarity, and travel fatigue for visitors. It generalized to any negotiation or contest held on one party’s own turf.

  1. noun phrase · /HOHM-feeld ad-VAN-tij/

    The edge a competitor gains from playing in familiar surroundings before a supportive crowd.

    What it names

    How context itself confers advantage — the same performance goes further on your own ground.

    Example

    Holding the merger talks at their own headquarters gave the buyers a quiet home-field advantage.

    Related idea

    A home-field advantage comes from where you play, while a handicap is an edge deliberately added or removed to balance the sides.

See also

HandicapLevel playing fieldUnderdog