[Tackleberry]

I said home ice advantage since I mostly wager on hockey but this questions could certainly be applied to any sport.

So clearly being at home is generally an advantage, but how would one most effectively calculate how strong this advantage is? Looking back at the league averages for the past several seasons would certainly be quick and easy but will this number be useless and only be applicable to the few teams who fall in and around the mean? Or should one look at the teams play over the season thus far to compare how they have played at home compared to the road? My concern there would be that short term varience would lead to this information be potentially very misleading.

[ThaddeusB]

I said home ice advantage since I mostly wager on hockey but this questions could certainly be applied to any sport.

So clearly being at home is generally an advantage, but how would one most effectively calculate how strong this advantage is? Looking back at the league averages for the past several seasons would certainly be quick and easy but will this number be useless and only be applicable to the few teams who fall in and around the mean? Or should one look at the teams play over the season thus far to compare how they have played at home compared to the road? My concern there would be that short term varience would lead to this information be potentially very misleading.

In a league with close to balanced schedules (like the NHL), looking at the league average should be sufficient. Historical, the difference between the biggest HFA and smallest HFA is pretty small and could just as easily be do to normal variance as actual difference. (If a league isn't balanced, you may have the problem of better teams playing more games at home so the "average HFA" will be inflated if you just look at a pts/games number.)

[CHUBNUT]

HFA comes under the same situation as most other points in handicapping a game, its all down to how much time your willing to put into the overall game. Clearly handicapping all things in all games would be impossible so you have to prioritize which aspects you think needs extra attention. I find the best strategy is to trawl the net until you find figures that are done for you that your happy using.

[Stocks]

For last season home ice advantage was worth .36 goals per game.

[Data]

but this questions could certainly be applied to any sport.

Right, this is why I will refer you to the vast body of Sabermetrics research on this subject. Home (insert the type) Advantage is a descriptive statistic explaining what happened in the past and this is Sabermetrics' bread and butter.

Also, search this forum, you may find threads like this:
http://www.sportsbookreview.com/forum/handicappe...advantage.html