Home Advantage in Ice Hockey Matches without Spectators

Abstract

Measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic have provided a unique dataset that can be analysed to test the influence of spectators on match results. Strict measures were introduced in the Czech Republic, where more than half of the 2020--2021 season was played completely without spectators. The matches of the Czech Extraliga from the last seven seasons (a total of 2604 matches were played between the seasons of 2016--2017 and 2022--2023) were used in the analysis of the influence of spectators on results. Previously developed models from association football were used to perform the analysis. The results of the analysis show that in matches without spectators, the influence of home advantage decreased significantly.