US top-tier soccer league MLS has announced that sports technology and data firm Sportec Solutions will provide video assistant referee (VAR) technology to the league from the beginning of the 2024 season.
The deal, which will last through to 2030, will see Sportec’s FIFA governing body-approved VAR solution applied to every Major League Soccer game for each season of the deal.
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Sportec has already erected a new facility in Arlington, Texas, through which it will operate its video review and medical sideline review refereeing services, as well as its matchday data collection.
In a statement, MLS added that the partnership aims to expand over time with the Sportec facility to eventually house the “full-suite” of tech services employed by the league.
MLS senior vice president for competition and medical administration stated of the deal: “We are thrilled to have Sportec Solutions as our technology provider for video review, medical sideline review, and cutting-edge data capabilities.
“For the first time in our league's history, these services will be managed in one central location on matchdays, allowing for industry-leading technology and enhanced fan experiences, all while reinforcing our mission to advance our competition with integrity and innovation."
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By GlobalDataThe deal comes off the back of a previous agreement between the MLS and Sportec, signed in 2023, that sees the firm handle all aspects of data collection, storage, analysis, and distribution from MLS, MLS NEXT Pro and Leagues cup competitions.
The data is available to fans watching via MLS Season Pass, the streaming service launched by global tech giant Apple for its first season of worldwide MLS coverage, for which it secured the rights through a 10-year deal struck in June 2022.
Sportec, a joint venture between sports tech firm Deltatre and German soccer governing body the DFL, is a rapidly growing presence across top-tier soccer leagues.
In 2023, GlobalData Sport visited the facility in Cologne where the Bundesliga’s VAR infrastructure is housed, a facility that will likely not be dissimilar to the new Arlington Texas facility.
At the time Christian Holzer, the managing director at Sportec, said of MLS: “he combination of a global rightsholding tech heavyweight like Apple, with the fact there is a home [men’s] FIFA World Cup in the US [with Canada and Mexico] in 2026, should help drive the growth of soccer here even further
“This is a great opportunity for us to develop even more innovative products and services, using the knowledge we’ve gathered through working with the Bundesliga to help MLS leverage the Apple partnership.”
With the expansion of Sportec’s MLS partnership into VAR, it indicates the growing influence of the firms data and video solutions enabled by the purchase of its majority shareholding in the Vieww goal-line technology and video assistant referee company.
