Perhaps for as long as sports teams have had home and away games, the concept of homecourt advantage has been seen as vitally important for team success.
This season for the NBA’s Utah Jazz and NHL’s Utah Hockey Club, however, there has been no such advantage for them when they’ve played at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, the arena they share.
In fact, both squads have the worst home winning percentage of any team in their respective leagues so far at essentially the halfway point of their seasons. (Both leagues have 82-game regular seasons. The Jazz have played 38, while Utah HC has played 43.)
The Utah Jazz have the worst home win percentage in the NBA.
The Utah Hockey Club have the worst home win percentage in the NHL.
9 combined wins at Delta Center. pic.twitter.com/hKHlH76EIs
The Jazz are a measly 3-14 at home, while Utah HC is 6-10-4. There are three teams in the NBA with five wins at home and two in the NHL with seven.
The Jazz’s record makes some sense, as they are trying to lose as often as possible this season, although they are 7-14 on the road.
Utah HC, meanwhile, is trying to become a playoff team this season, its first in the Beehive State after relocating from Arizona last spring, but its home performance has made that a challenging proposition at this point.
Utah HC is 12-8-3 away from Salt Lake City.
Of course there are many factors that could play into a team’s record at home, including but not limited to quality of opponent there and travel schedule leading up to home games.
In any event, both teams have home-heavy schedules for the remainder of the season.
Of the Jazz’s 44 remaining games, 24 will be played at the Delta Center.
For Utah HC, 21 of its remaining 39 contests will be in Salt Lake City.
