As the Premier League prepares to institute semi-automated offside decision-making this season, every EPL team will use a Genius Sports computer vision system in its stadium, the league announced Wednesday.
New data platform GeniusIQ will power the offside tech. The Premier League previously said it planned to institute the semi-automated system at some point this fall. Similar review options have been added to recent UEFA and FIFA competitions. Rather than relying on a human operator to manually measure relevant players’ limb positioning, leagues are increasingly turning to automatic body tracking measures which offer more reliable and faster decisions.
Genius says its current system can generate full renderings of players, the ball and the so-called “offside wall” line within seconds. Those images can then be shown on TV or in the venue, with game officials often alerted to the correct decision via earpiece. The process is only semi-automated because a human referee is still needed to determine which players were involved in the play, among other details.
“This is a seismic moment for our business,” Genius Sports CEO Mark Locke said in a statement.
The Premier League’s review process received heavy scrutiny last season when the video assistant referee (VAR) system inadvertently disallowed a Liverpool goal against Tottenham in September. Professional Game Match Officials Limited cited “significant human error” in the botched call, which contributed to a 2-1 defeat for Liverpool.
Genius has been instituting skeletal tracking of UK soccer players going back to 2022. Last week, the company locked up English soccer data rights through the 2029 season. The company’s tools are also used by the EPL’s media arm for data-heavy broadcasts and fantasy game applications.
Genius optical tracking is already used stateside as well, including in the WNBA, tallying metrics such as paint touches and contest quality. The GeniusIQ brand comes with the complete integration of Second Spectrum—acquired for $200 million in 2021—into its parent company.
