Richard Sherman may give you an askance look if you were to ask him about the notion of home field advantage. Then again, if you were to ask him that at CenturyLink Field, he may not be able to hear you above the roar of Seattle Seahawks fans in the stands.

It’s partially due to the fans that the Seahawks were so successful during their home games this past season. Sure, athletic ability and architecture also played roles, but home field advantage was definitely a key route in their playbook.

According to an interesting new research paper, home teams win approximately 60 percent of all athletic contests. Mark S. Allen (Department of Applied Science, London South Bank University) and Marc V. Jones (Centre for Sport, Health and Exercise Research, Staffordshire University) reviewed recent research on conceptual models about the phenomenon and discovered three ways home advantage affects—positively and negatively—players and officials.

“The decisions of sports officials appear to be influenced by the behavior of the crowd, athletes show a territorial response that is consistent with that shown by nonhuman animals, and home support seems to disrupt athletic performance in win-imminent situations of high importance,” Allen and Jones wrote.

Let’s consider the officials.

“Experimental studies have demonstrated that officials are more likely to award discretionary decisions that favor the home team (e.g., extra time) and harsher punishments for the away team (e.g., warnings) in the presence of crowd noise compared with a no-noise control situation,” the authors wrote.

That makes sense. It’s human nature to want to win over an audience.

A home field is also a territory that needs to be defended.

“In many non-human animal species, an invasion of one’s perceived territory invokes a protective response that is associated with heightened testosterone concentrations and a higher occurrence of overt aggression,” Allen and Jones wrote.

The authors suggest that higher levels of testosterone could contribute to increased “risk-taking behavior and the metabolic rate of muscles and by improving spatial ability.”

Finally, another hormone, cortisol, actually increases during home games and causes a negative response.

“The finding that cortisol levels are highest in home venues supports qualitative evidence that athletes can feel under pressure to perform in front of their own fans,” Allen and Jones wrote.

Cortisol, the authors wrote, “is associated with a ‘threat’ response to psychological stress and this response, in turn, has been linked to poor athletic performance.” In other words, the fear of failing in front of a home crowd is stressful. The athlete then becomes conscious of automatic movements, and this awareness then results in poor play.

The researchers say that more studies need to be conducted.

“For athletes, we need an integrative model that explains why a home environment can sometimes benefit, and at other times harm, athletic performance,” they wrote.

In the meantime, keep those cheers loud, even if it stresses out the athletes.

(photo credit: Joe Parks via photopin cc)

Congratulations to Sodexo, one of our Global Partners, for inclusion on the “2014 NAFE Top 50 Companies for Executive Women” list! The National Association of Female Executives‘ list “recognizes American corporations that have moved women into top executive positions and created a culture that identifies, promotes and nurtures successful women.”

“Sodexo is proud to be recognized by NAFE as one of the Top 50 companies for women executives,” said Steve DiPrima, president of leisure services at Sodexo. “It further validates our commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion throughout our teams while also providing opportunities for professional development and growth.”

Key stats about this year’s list, according to the NAFE Executive Summary, include

• Twenty-eight percent of executive officers at the NAFE Top 50 are women, up from 25 percent last year and 22 percent in 2012.
• Women represent 35 percent of the top 10th of earners at the NAFE Top 50 Companies, and a full two-thirds at the NAFE Top 10 Nonprofit Companies.
• Female participation in advancement programs increased significantly at the NAFE Top 50 this year, with almost a third (32 percent) of women using management/leadership training and mentoring programs, and 64 percent of women participating in career counseling.
• Ninety-six percent of the NAFE Top 50 Companies now offer job rotation programs, compared with 80 percent last year; 60 percent support sponsorship programs, up from just 42 percent in 2013.

This is Sodexo’s third year on the list, and of the company’s total employees, 59 percent are women. Once again, congratulations!

(Image: Sodexo Group Media Library/Stéphane REMAEL) 

There was a lot of news this past week you may have missed. Here are some headlines that caught our eyes.

Vintage Photos: The Winter Olympics Through the Ages
—Condé Nast Traveler
“The Winter Olympics in Sochi are on everyone’s mind right now, but we’re taking a trip back through Winter Olympics of years past, thanks to these charming vintage photos.”

Madison House Presents Joins AEG Live
—CelebrityAccess
“AEG Live has announced the acquisition of festival, touring, and special events production company Madison House Presents. The deal will see Madison House Presents’ principal partners Don Sullivan, Mike Luba and Jeremy Stein joining AEG.”

A New Approach To Improve Networking at Conferences
—Event Manager Blog
“Stimulating your audience to meet new peers and matching the expert with the non-expert leads to more effective and satisfactory meeting experiences.”

Japanese Companies Testing 360-degree VR Broadcasts for Live Events
—Engadget
“Users can move their HMD [head-mounted displays] around to shift their view, and the cloud processes and machinations aim to maximize stream quality for where (and on what) you’re viewing, ‘as if you’re really there.'”

Storytelling Lessons from World Wrestling Entertainment
—Harvard Business Review
“For anyone in entertainment, marketing, or storytelling trying to understand the way a company should (or should not) interact with its fan base, this is the bout for you.”

(Image: ITAR-TASS Photo Agency/Alamy)

Photo: Matthew Paulson / Flickr CC

David Beckham’s recent announcement of plans to launch a new MLS soccer club in downtown Miami is raising hopes, doubts, and questions about the details of his plan. Included in the mix is the mention of a new stadium as a part of the launch. In the press conference on Wednesday, Beckham mentioned that the new stadium would be privately funded, addressing the known issue of Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimminez opposing the public funding of private sports venues.

As reported by Nick Madigan with the New York Times, “In an interview after the news briefing, Don Garber (MLS Commissioner) said that in the last month or so he had personally looked at three properties in downtown Miami that might be suitable stadium sites for Beckham’s team. ‘We want that stadium to be downtown,’ Garber said, mentioning in particular a site in Miami’s seaport near the arena where the NBA’s Miami Heat play.”

A rendering envisioning the stadium restored for an MLS soccer team

There is at least one interesting idea for a location floating around in Miami. It has been closed since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, but the historic Miami Marine Stadium at one time played host to premier boat racing; floating-stage concerts by Queen, The Beach Boys, Steppenwolf, Ray Charles, and Gloria Estafan; and perhaps most famously the Live at The Bay video recorded during a two-day Jimmy Buffett show in 1985. Jimmy Buffet joins the ranks of many that want to see the stadium restored as an active Miami venue, including the Friends of Miami Marine Stadium, and a group of soccer fans that would love to see a soccer pitch floating out where the stage once stood.

Is the Miami Marine Stadium a possibility? Who knows, but having a spectacular venue does seem to be a top priority in this latest effort to prove that MLS soccer can thrive in the Miami market.

The recent winter storm in Atlanta was a trying time for residents and visitors, such as the more than 1,100 exhibitors and 25,000 attendees at the International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), January 28-30. However, a well thought-out weather preparedness plan proved to mitigate problems.

“The winter storm presented us with some challenges staffing the event,” said IAVM member Patrick Skaggs, assistant general manager at GWCC. “We had over 100 employees stay overnight on rotating shifts to ensure that the sidewalks and roadways in and around our campus were cleared. We also had to perform all of our regular duties in cleaning and converting almost three million square feet of space that the event used within the facility. These monumental challenges would have been impossible for us to take on without the team members and equipment from the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park (also managed by the GWCC Authority).”

An “Inclement Weather Plan” was created more than three years ago, Skaggs said, and it’s an extension of the venue’s “Emergency Operating Procedures.”

“The plan came in very useful during this weather event, but it’s one of those documents that is constantly being improved,” he said.

At the time of the interview, the event was still moving out of the facility, so a comprehensive debrief hadn’t been conducted yet. The main goal, though, was to ensure a great guest experience, and Skaggs said he’s proud of the GWCC team for doing whatever was necessary to provide “best in class” service to attendees.

“I’m very pleased with how our team handled this winter storm and IPPE in general,” he said.

Do you have a current weather preparedness plan in place? How often is it updated? Please contribute to the conversation in the comment section below.

(photo credit: jasonstaten via photopin cc)