Semi-automated offside technology may not be launched in the Premier League until next year, the PA news agency understands.
The introduction of the technology was approved by clubs in April and had been set to be brought in after one of this autumn’s international windows.
October had originally been seen as the most likely date but that is now certain to pass, and it may not be ready by mid-November either and could go into the winter.
League bosses sought to ‘manage expectations’ on the launch date among clubs at a meeting held in central London on Thursday, with testing on the system ongoing.
The league believes the technology could speed up the length of the average VAR check for offside by 31 seconds.
The Premier League was due to implement semi-automated offsides after one of the autumn international breaks
League bosses sought to ‘manage expectations’ on the launch date among clubs at a meeting held in central London. Pictured: Premier League CEO Richard Masters
Technology will track up to 10,000 data points on each player’s body – up from 29 – and make decisions in rapid time. Genius Sports will initially be capturing up to 100 frames per second – around twice the current total – but have the capacity to reach 200.
The sports data and tech company, along with Second Spectrum, has been working with the NBA since 2018.
Their new technology is scheduled to be rolled out later in the 2024-25 season.
Genius Sports’ network of iPhone cameras around a stadium will capture high frame-rate video from multiple angles to address tight offside situations.
GeniusIQ’s machine intelligence allows the phones to communicate with each other and process the visual data simultaneously.
‘You’re going from 30, 40, 50 data points on a player to, no, I’m actually going to track the contours of your body,’ said Mike D’Auria, EVP of sports and technology partnerships with Genius told Wired in August.
‘You will in many instances miss the kick point (with current technology). The kick point will be between two frames of video – you go from one frame where the ball is not on the foot yet to the next frame and the ball has already left the foot and gone in the other direction.’
Clubs were also given a largely positive update on officiating and reminded about their obligations around player behaviour.
Clubs have also been reminded of their obligations around player behaviour in the wake of several recent high-profile flare ups
It is understood there was no pushback from clubs regarding the league spending more than £45million on legal costs.
There was recognition that the spending is necessary to uphold the league’s rules, and is a small fraction of the £10billion the league is set to earn in television revenues over the next three years.