Survivor Pool Myth #2: Never Pick Road Teams / Away Teams

Plenty of survivor players will avoid picking road teams if possible. The evidence does not support that strategy.

A popular myth among Survivor pool circles is that you should avoid picking road teams. Is this a function of contestants not properly considering the effect of home field advantage or looking at the betting odds? Whatever the reason, the evidence that road teams are worse options in Survivor pools–once you have accounted for the win odds of the team and figured in the impact of home field advantage–is weak.

What is True: Home Field Advantage is a Real Thing

We want to be clear here. Home field advantage matters in the NFL. Teams that play at home win more games than they lose over the course of the season. From 2002 to 2021, home teams won 56.7% of games.

Why then, do we say that it is a myth that you should avoid picking road teams in Survivor?

The Betting Markets and Win Odds Already Account for Home Field Advantage

It’s no secret where NFL games are played. Market-based metrics like point spreads already “price in” the market’s expectation of the impact of that very public information. Our models and win odds also account for home field advantage.

In 2022, of the 70 games where a team was favored by seven points or more, most of them were playing at home (70%). But that doesn’t mean you should avoid the favorites who happen to be playing on the road. If the betting market says a team has an 85% chance of winning, you do not then need to dock them for also playing on the road. The evidence does not support it.

Road Favorites versus Home Favorites

For example, there’s no benefit in picking a 6-point home favorite over a 7-point road favorite. Since 2002, as one should expect, 7-point road favorites have won more often, with a 72.3% win rate (87-33-1), compared to 6-point home favorites. (Those 6-point home favorites have won 62.7% of the time, far less than 6-point road favorites during the same time period, who won 77.5% of games.)

It’s worth noting that you can sometimes appear to find evidence that backs up this myth, depending on how finely you cut the data. However, small sample sizes of data aren’t trustworthy.

For example, since 2002, NFL home favorites of 7 to 9.5 points have won 77.9% of the time, compared to a 74.3% win rate for road favorites. That seems like an eyebrow-raising result. However, if you consider only the last decade, the trend pretty much flips; more recently, the road favorites (81.4% versus 75.6%) have won more often. So there is nothing you can conclude with high confidence.

Road Teams Could Hold Value if Your Opponents Believe in Myths

If a segment of opponents are automatically ruling out teams as options because of a rule like “don’t take road teams,” that presents value opportunities. After all, expected value is based on the win odds and pick popularity of each team. If a certain team is being picked less frequently than they should be, their value goes up. Over time, you will win more in survivor pools by making choices that have higher expected value.

Don’t limit your options by ruling out road teams as survivor picks. Do look at the odds. It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally, a road team ends up being the best play for your pool in a particular week.