Video-Assistant Replay Relies on Comms for Critical Audio Component Riedel and Clear-Com are among vendors supporting sound in a changing officiating picture By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Tuesday, November 26, 2024 - 7:00 am
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Video replay has changed sports. Not just broadcast sports - the television-replay infrastructure has been integrated into league-review protocols - but sports itself: fans in the stands perch on the edge of their seats watching the big screen after a challenged call. They're accustomed to awaiting a ruling from a distant commissioner's office on a close, perhaps outcome-defining play. Technology asks fans, as Chico Marx was fond of saying, Who you gonna believe: me or your own eyes?
And fans are listening as well: for instance, since 2022, MLB umpires use a lavalier-type microphone and bodypack to announce decisions made by the replay booth.
Intercoms Enter the Picture As video-assistant-replay systems became ubiquitous, intercom systems were called on to provide the audio backbone for the VAR platforms, with audio playing an increased role. Riedel Communications has staked out a sizable footprint in the sector, providing encrypted communications between field and home-office officials for both the Premier League and Germany's Bundesliga. It now provides those services for the NFL and MLB as well, and other U.S. leagues are in discussions, according to Jan Schaffner, program manager, Americas, Managed Technology Division, Riedel.
Riedel's Jan Schaffner: What about putting what is talked about [between officials] live on-air? We suggested, Why not take [fans] with them on a journey?
We're providing the bidirectional wireless communication system that goes onto the [bodypack] with a push-to-talk button, which allows hands-free operations, as well as the headset that is used, he explains, referring to the Bolero S product, a more compact iteration of Riedel's regular Bolero platform. They can use that to talk to another referee or to talk to the PA system.
It's also fully encrypted, using AES standards. That feature is especially critical now that sports betting has become extremely granular - so-called microbetting - with wagers placed on the outcomes of even individual pitch velocities.
Is There a Doctor in the House? According to Kristopher Koch, business development director, broadcast, network, and media production, Clear-Com, whose systems are now in use with the MLS and NWSL, the key requirements for this application of comms are real time and reliable, as well as secure. Our ability to connect remotely over LAN, WAN, or internet securely is an advantage when we're working on projects.
Intercom-type back-channel systems in this area are expanding their range of application. For instance, Koch notes, they're increasingly used to alert first responders to possible injury situations.
Clear-Com's Kristopher Koch points out that intercom-type back-channel VAR systems are used to alert first responders to possible injury situations.
If somebody in the replay center knows that a player may have suffered a concussion, for instance, you can immediately call the doctor on the field, he explains. The doctor on the field can get to that player faster and do an evaluation sooner. That has real implications for all sports.
The audio systems can be integrated into any of several goal-line technologies on the market, such as SloMo's VideoReferee and SporTec Solutions (STS); for instance, , Bolero S is integrated with STS for the Bundesliga, Schaffner says. We work with several providers and are flexible when it comes to integrating our system into theirs. He adds that, although Riedel has its own standalone, FIFA-certified replay solution, it supplies Bolero S only as part of larger VAR systems.
The Importance of VAR Increasingly, the video replay determines the result of the play. Once simply a happy benefit of televised sports, it has now been built into its own platform across a growing number of sports. The Premier League wrote the Video-Assistant Referee platform and process into its rulebook in 2018, following extensive trialing in major competitions. The process has become virtually transparent in European soccer, where VAR systems automatically check, quietly in the background, every on-field-referee decision falling under the four reviewable categories.
Although video replays have been a regular part of the officiating protocol in the NFL for some years, the league this year adopted a Premier League-style VAR system to review and correct miscalls by on-field officials.
In what some call collaborative officiating, active VAR is blurring the line between on-field refs and the replay booth, essentially making league officials active participants in post-play field-call adjudication. MLB has been using video replays since 2014, following a 2012 missed call that mistakenly extended NY Mets pitcher Johan Santana's franchise-first no-hitter. A subsequent and seemingly endless list of could-have-beens have solidified the case for VAR across sports.
Fans in the Loop There is also a fan-engagement aspect. Waiting to hear an official announce a decision from a higher authority during a critical moment in a game heightens the drama. In fact, says Schaffner, that contributed to leagues' originally agreeing to put some of the process into the PA system: Whenever a decision is challenged, [fans] are kind of in the dark and just have to wait until the decision is announced. What about putting what is talked about [between officials] live on-air? We suggested, Why not take [fans] with them on a journey?
Remote officiating is also paralleled by remote management of the audio quality. Certain games deploying Riedel systems are connected to the company
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Video-Assistant Replay Relies on Comms for Critical Audio Component Riedel and Clear-Com are among vendors supporting sound in a changing officiating picture By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
