Does size of the a college football stadium affect wins?
So recently I was in a debate with a non-sec fan, which led me to wonder. Is there a correlation between victories in college football and the size of the stadium that they play in? Maybe, maybe not. Is there any way to 100% prove that the size of the stadium relates to wins? No, but it should be interesting to see the results.
In the SEC we have my beloved bulldogs, playing in the beautiful Sanford Stadium which has a capacity of 92,756. But under Mark Richt’s leadership, we actually have a better record on the road (30-as of tonight, before the Oklahoma State game) even though we own the 6th largest stadium in the land. But all in all, the average SEC stadium has an capacity of 77,213 (not including Arkansas’ second stadium, necessary? I think not.)
After I calculated the results as seen above, I was actually very surprised with the results. I figured that the SEC would be at the top and the Big East at the bottom, but Big 12 second to last? Unexpected to say the least.
Does the size of the stadium affect wins?
This data shows that in the last 5 years the Big 12, which has the one of the smallest stadiums on average, has the best home win percentage. Not to discount these home wins, the Big 12 also plays some of the hardest home opponents (by win %). I believe that this shows that the size of the stadium does add any extra ability to win a game. It is possible that once a stadium reaches a certain size, the noise added by fans is negligible at best. I believe that it is fair to conclude that past wins (success of program) affect the size of the stadium much more than the stadium affects the wins.
