Abstract

Previous research in the National Football League (NFL) has shown that teams traveling eastward may gain circadian advantages during competition. The current study examines thirty years of performance using all West Coast teams subject to frequent travel in the NFL. We hypothesized that the West Coast teams would gain circadian advantages during eastward travel compared to travel within the same time zone, and when playing at their circadian peaks during the afternoon. Data for all away games played from the 1990 to 2019 seasons were collected from Pro-Football-Reference and FiveThirtyEight (n = 1,018). We investigated the impact of time of game, time zone, and their interaction on game outcomes, points scored and allowed, interceptions, sacks, punts, and completion, field-goal, and extra-point percentages. A series of generalized regressions with Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc tests were performed, controlling for day of the game and each team’s strength using Elo rating. We found that teams experienced greater competitive advantages the further eastward they traveled, winning more games, and scoring the most points in the Eastern time zone. Our results also illustrated that teams scored more, allowed fewer points, and had higher completion percentages during afternoon games. Our study provides further evidence for the circadian rhythm advantage for West Coast teams. Limitations, implications, and future directions in the context of the NFL are also discussed.