Hundreds of iPhones are being installed across Premier League stadia as part of a major update to offside decision-making.
The Premier League has recruited Genius Sports, which works with leagues, including the NBA, to provide semi-automated offside technology.
Its Dragon system uses a minimum of 28 iPhones filming the action from multiple angles. Its platform can then track thousands of data points on every player at all times, so as to work out precise offside decisions. This is instead of previous off-side technology, which involved using sensors in the ball and 20+ tracking points on players.
“The introduction of semi-automated offside is an important move to maintain the flow of the game in the Premier League,” said Tony Scholes, Premier League Chief Football Officer.
“We are confident that by using the newest and most accurate technology available we will see the time taken for offside decisions reduced significantly alongside a consistent application of the offside lines. The experience for all participants including supporters will also be enhanced through quicker communication and clearer imagery around offside decisions.”
Dragon uses the iPhone’s high-frame rates to capture at 100fps.
In addition to the cameras, it deploys AI and machine learning to try and predict when there’s likely to be an offside call and then prioritises data from the most relevant camera angles.
“I am thrilled that Genius Sports is now the Premier League’s Semi-Automated Officiating supplier,” added Mark Locke, CEO of Genius Sports.
“This is a seismic moment for our business, as we bring our unique AI and data platform GeniusIQ to the world’s most watched league. This partnership builds on our track-record of delivering game-changing technology for the world’s biggest leagues.”
The company, which recently launched its GeniusIQ platform, will also be powering the Premier League Data Zone, which integrates statistics and tracking metrics into live broadcasts.
Genius already works with Manchester City, NFL, NBA and PGA Tour.
“The biggest benefit of semi-automated offsides is around the efficiency of the process. We already believe our interventions around offside are accurate. The manual use of technology can take time, particularly in the more complicated situations. We’re looking forward to making it quicker but retaining the accuracy,” explained Howard Webb, the Chief Operating Officer at referee’s organisation, PGMOL.
“It’s ‘semi-automated’ because there still needs to be some validation on the outputs from the technology that the VAR will go through, such as the kick point being identified.”
