Evaluation of innovative Technologies that support Referees in Game Sports

More and more sports are introducing new systems to support the umpires and referees respectively, with some of these technologies even replacing the umpires in some decisions. One of these – the goal line technology (GLT) in soccer - exemplifies the lack of evaluation concerning the introduction of such systems. On the one hand, FIFA established a series of tests that the systems have to pass in order to get credited as an official GLT. On the other hand, no evaluations concerning the cost-benefit ratio, the impact of the introduction of these technologies on internal and external stakeholders as well as on the game itself have been obtained by FIFA so far. The main goal of this project, representing the dissertation of Otto Kolbinger, is to show the opportunities of performance analysis to evaluate the introduction of such new technologies in game sports. Currently this project focuses on replay review systems in game sports. Furthermore, a different study is evaluating the impact of the new vanishing spray, used to mark the required distance between defenders and the ball for free kicks in soccer. In 2014 Kolbinger, Linke, Link and Lames conducted a study, commissioned and funded by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL, trans. German Soccer League), to evaluate the use of goal line technology in soccer. Kolbinger et al. showed a very low incidence of scenes that could be resolved only by goal line technology and therefore raised concerns about its cost-benefit ratio. The study also showed the potential of the use of replay review. In further investigations replay review systems of other sports, for example Baseball (MLB), were evaluated to generate valuable hints for its use in soccer.