Sports Officiating Technologies Market Trends

Growth Drivers  

• Large-scale adoption of VAR in global sports: The success of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in popular sports has been the most significant growth driver for the market. The recently concluded soccer (football) world cup in 2022 witnessed success of VAR use. Official partners of major soccer leagues that provide VAR solutions are looking to improve the technology further to reduce VAR intervention time further and increase the efficacy. In January 2024, BMC Sports Science, Medicine & Rehabilitation reported an improvement in accuracy of referee decisions from 92.1% to 98.3% after VAR intervention.
  
  As more soccer leagues across the world look to integrate VAR in their national leagues, the scope of the market expands considerably. Additionally, VAR’s success bodes well for other sports officiating technologies such as the Decision Review System (DRS) used in cricket as the demand rises.
• Rising investments by organizations and leagues: The major sports organizations are investing heavily in sports officiating technologies leading to market growth. The league system format in some sports opens a long-term revenue stream for companies providing sports officiating solutions. For instance, in March 2024, the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) introduced the Smart Replay system in IPL 2024 to help quicken and improve the efficiency of the Decision Review System (DRS). Similar investments are being made in other sports to improve officiating. For instance, in September 2024, the National Basketball Association (NBA) board of governors approved the use of instant replays to review out of bound violations.
• Growing popularity of esports ecosystem: The rise of esports and virtual sports has created new markets for sports officiating solutions. For instance, the 2024 League of Legends World Championships garnered 1.3 million viewers. Esports relies on software-based systems as well as in person referees for officiating. The demand for robust software solutions for esports officiating is growing leading to new revenue streams in the global market. In October 2019, Tencent Mobile introduced a real time cheat detection system for their popular esports game PUBG mobile. As esports gains in popularity and attracts greater number of viewers and sponsorships, the demands for robust sports officiating solutions are likely to grow even further.

Challenges

• Growing resistance from traditionalists: There is a sustained pushback to innovative sports officiating technologies from fans, players, coaches, and sports pundits. A large section dislikes the change in traditional forms of sports and pressurize governing bodies to discontinue officiating technologies. This can cause the market’s growth to be stymied. For instance, in May 2024, Premier League clubs arranged a voting to discontinue VAR for the 2024-2025 season due to growing discontentment against VAR decisions.
• High costs of implementation: The cost of implementation of smart sports officiating solutions can be high deterring smaller leagues in adapting them. Officiating technologies such as Hawk-Eye, DRS, and VAR can be costly to install and maintain. For instance, ESPN Cricinfo reported in February 2023 that despite heavy investment in cricket, domestic cricket tournaments in India are yet to embrace DRS fully with only the final of the Ranji trophy tournament implemented with full scale DRS officiating in 2022-2023.