By the Numbers: Home field advantage

TORONTO — There’s no place like home.

That’s been the case for many teams around the league, performing better in the comforts of their own stadiums. It could be because of the familiarity of following their regular routine or the crowd getting involved to energize the players that helps teams win more games on home soil.

Take the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, for example. The Tabbies went undefeated at Tim Hortons Field in 2019, winning all nine regular season games and the Eastern Final against the Edmonton Football Team.

Or the Calgary Stampeders. The Stamps have held the best home record over the last five years, 38-7 (.844), and over the last 10 years, 72-18 (.800), proving that McMahon Stadium is a difficult place for any team to make a stop in.

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McMahon Stadium has become known as a difficult place for opponents to play (Larry MacDougal/CFL.ca)

So, how good are teams at home? CFL.ca takes a look back in history at some trends and statistics:

– A total of 15 teams have gone undefeated at home, including eight teams that have gone 9-0 since the schedule moved to 18 games in length. Before Hamilton, the last team to do so was Calgary in 2016, and Montreal in 2009 before that. Hamilton is just the third team to go unbeaten at home since Toronto in 1997.

– The Ticats lost their last regular season home game in 2018, so their current winning streak stands at 9 games. The all-time record for longest home winning streak is 27, set by Calgary from Sept. 20, 1992 to Aug. 6, 1995. Montreal (20 games) is in second, followed by Edmonton, Toronto and Calgary (17 each).

– Hamilton owns a 29-22 record (.569) since moving in to Tim Hortons Field midway through the 2014 season. That’s around average, as in the last decade, from 2010-2019, teams overall have gone 436-336 at home (.565).

–  Alberta teams are a combined 69-21 at home the last five years, a winning pct. of .767. Alberta has been a difficult place to visit along with the rest of the prairies.

– Calgary has won a minimum of seven home games eight years in a row, which ties its own mark also accomplished from 1990 through 1997 when they went 64-8 (.889). No other team has done this and Calgary has done so twice.

– Both Calgary and Edmonton have had dominant home stretches before. From 1986 to 1997, Edmonton was 87-21 at home (.806), including a run of 39-6 from 1986-1990 which is an .867 win percentage. Calgary matched that with an identical 39-6 run from 2013-2017. From 1993 to 1997, Calgary went 42-3 at home (.933) which is by far the best 5-year stretch in league history.