Since video assisted review debuted on an international scale at the 2018 World Cup, there have been concerns about its effectiveness, misuse, and impact on the length of the 90-minute game as leagues around the world have rushed to adopt the technology.
Major League Soccer was one of the first leagues to use VAR as a supplement to human referees starting in Week 22 of the 2017 MLS season. Its early adoption meant it has been looked upon as a role model by FIFA and other leagues. And now, two years and hundreds of reviews later, MLS deputy commissioner Mark Abbott says VAR has been a “tremendous success” for soccer in the U.S.
“I just got back from Europe where VAR is of some controversy in certain markets. In Germany, it hasn’t yet been embraced at the level that it has been here. And we were a global leader in that,” said Abbott. “When some of the original experiments were done, people from around the world came here to watch how ours were conducted. So we feel great about the impact that it has had.”
During the 2018 season, MLS conducted more than 125 VAR reviews that Abbott said “corrected false calls” or calls made incorrectly. That led to “more fair results in the game,” he said, while adding just one minute on average to gameplay.
To be sure, mistakes are still made and Abbott will be the first to admit that. But he says they’re “relatively minor in comparison to the good that’s done.”
Abbott envisions continued improvement in VAR technology in coming years, which he hopes will further reduce stoppages and ensure the sport runs as fairly and smoothly as possible.
“The biggest fear all of us had was, is it going to add a lot of time to the game?” Abbott said. “It doesn’t mean there aren’t some games that are impacted a little bit more, and we’re working to try and remedy that, but it hasn’t been the disruptive force on a game that I think some people feared that it might be.”
VAR alerts the head referee to potential clear and obvious errors in match-changing incidents that include goals, penalty kicks, direct red cards and cases of mistaken identity. Only the head referee can initiate a review by making an air signal of a TV box. If video evidence is inconclusive, the original on-field decision stands, though the final determination always rests with the head referee.
MLS commissioner Don Garber added to those sentiments, saying VAR has made the world’s game more tolerant of technological innovation overall. In addition to VAR, FIFA also provided teams with two iPads each during the World Cup that they could use to strategize and deploy analytics mid-game.
“FIFA in the old days was very averse to technology,” said Garber, referring to the tenure of FIFA’s president from 1998 to 2015. “VAR during the Sepp Blatter days would have never happened.”
Garber wants soccer to be the most technologically innovative sport in the world, with MLS among one of the most bullish leagues when it comes to tech adoption and experimentation. He believes technology will help increase interest in the sport and capture the attention of younger fans who are distracted by alternatives.
“Technology could help build a deeper connection with the sport,” he said. “Our fans are not growing up as traditional consumers of media—they’re not cable cutters, they’re cable-nevers. They still want to watch sports and we have to find ways to deliver to them in efficient delivery vehicles. We’re just going to have to tough through some of the technological challenges.”