Study: Fewer Fouls Called on Home Team

Just as I’m heading out to watch a college basketball game tonight between my alma mater, Illinois State, and the University of Illinois-Chicago, I find this interesting piece on ESPN.com about foul calls in college basketball. It seems a recent study by a couple of college professors finds that the home team often gets fewer fouls called during these games.

The study, which appeared in The Journal of Sports Sciences earlier this year, finds that the chances that the visiting team would get a foul called on them was 7 percent higher than on the home team. When the home team is leading, the probability of the next foul being called on them was 6.3 percent higher than when the home team was trailing. Teams that are leading on nationally televised games also tend to get more fouls called than those leading in locally televised games.

Also, the bigger the difference in called fouls between the two teams, the more likely the next foul would be called against the team with fewer fouls. And when the home team had five or more fouls than the visiting team, there was a 69 percent chance that the visiting team would get the next foul.

While this is all supposedly happening subconsciously by the referees, it is somewhat amusing to realize that there really is something odd going on with the ref calls. And supposedly, it all evens out in the end, although the home team gets a slight edge. All the more reason to root for the home team.