NFL Cross Country Games
The advantage of being at home in professinal sports is one of the variables that makes sports betting such a challenge. White the oddsmaker will assign an NFL team a static number, say two to four points, for being at home, the actual advanage will realistically change on a weekly basis.Home field advantage may not mean much when playing one team and take on a great deal of more importance when facing another. This is due to the playing surface, weather and time zones.
The time a game is played is one variable that is often overlooked but it can have a definite impact on a game.
Teams playing on the East Coast have an advantage when facing their counterparts from the West Coast in day games. A game that starts at 1 p.m. in the east is still 10 a.m. in the west. Likewise, teams in the west have an advantage playing teams from the east in night games, as a 6 p.m. start on the West Coast is a 9 p.m. start in the east.
Western Division Teams in Eastern Standard Time
The first thing we'll do is look at the spread records of Western Conference teams when they play a game in Eastern Standard Time. Since the start of the 2006 season through the end of the 2010 season, NFC West teams were 23-29 against the number, while AFC West teams were just 28-38 against the spread. Going against these teams would have given us a 67-51 record, which translates to 56.7 percent, which isn't bad.The only problem is that not all teams in the Western Division are on Pacific Standard Time, so we need to look a big closer. There are four teams (Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco and San Diego) that are on Pacific Standard Time. Arizona is on Mountain Standard Time, which means it is three hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time until the first Sunday in November when it becomes two hours behind the east.
Pacific Standard Time Teams out East
If we look at the spread records of the four Pacific Standard Time teams when they play a game in Eastern Standard Time, we'll get the following:Oakland 5-9
San Diego 7-10
San Francisco 4-8
Seattle 4-8
That adds up to a dismal 20-35, which is a dismal 36.3 percent. Arizona was 8-8 against the number at that time, so even if we add the Cardinals into the equation we would still be 43-28 (60.5%) by going against these teams.
Naturally, there are other factors to consider, but going against teams from the west when they are playing out east has been a solid bet in the past.
