"Homefield Advantage" in FF???

[Twisted Sister]

Our league, probably like typical leagues, has a head-to-head matchup each week with a Home team and Away team.

However, this is absolutely meaningless from an true advantage point of view.

I was thinking of a proposing, in my league, a rule to give the home team a small point handicap... say a 1-5% bonus. This would make the Home games vs. Away games truly meaningful.

Some of our games came down to fractions of point... so it could really swing the outcome of a few games.

Thoughts? And if you like the idea, how would you structure it (a flat point rate, a % of points scored by the home team that week, etc.).

[Popcynical]

I dunno.. That's a pretty big advantage. Kinda takes a bit away from the game if you lose even though your guys out-performed the other team just because you were randomely generated as "away team."

[Dan Lambskin]

yeah, i dont really like it...some of these games are so close as it is, to lose by a fraction of a point becasue you were the away team would just be awful

EDIT: the only time i could see it being relevant would be to use it in the playoffs, where the higer seed being the home team, that way it makes the regular season even more meaningful...but personally, i still dont like it

[Mercer Boy]

Eh...I'd rather have the decisions the two coaches make as far as who to start that week be the deciding factor in a H2H matchup rather than a home/away modifier. It's bad enough to lose because some random guy goes off...but if you outcoach the other team and lose because they get points for being "home" that week, it would really be annoying.

There's no "momentum" gained from playing fantasy football, so your picks should be what controls the team's fate. Just my opinion!

[onnestabe]

The only thing adding a homefield advantage in would do is increase the influence of luck in your league.

I prefer to take luck out of it as much as possible, so I wouldn't do it, but if you want to, just make it like 1-3 points.

I think that if you want to do it, the best way would be to award "home field advantage" in the playoffs based on regular season records. Then you can protect against the "best" team having an off week and getting bounced from the playoffs by someone else getting lucky and having some guys go off.

[Arlo]

I also think a bonus like that may be a bit much, but I like the idea of using home field advantage as a tie-breaker.

[mysticphysh]

Yeah, I'm not too fond of this idea.

[moochman]

I also think a bonus like that may be a bit much, but I like the idea of using home field advantage as a tie-breaker.

I would have no issue with it being used as a tiebreaker. I hate ties and this would sovle that without favoring anyone, since homefield is randomly chosen and equally distributed.

[terpfan]

I also think a bonus like that may be a bit much, but I like the idea of using home field advantage as a tie-breaker.

Yeah, that works for me. Adding points I dont like though.

[Steve_L]

I also think a bonus like that may be a bit much, but I like the idea of using home field advantage as a tie-breaker.

Yeah, that works for me. Adding points I dont like though.

Yea that's what I would do. Adding points just gives people more excusses after you beat them.