Goal-line technology "could be used" in EPL matches by the middle of next season, "six months earlier than had been expected,” according to Gary Jacob of the LONDON TIMES. EPL CEO Richard Scudamore said that the league “realised that it need not wait until the start of the next campaign, 2013-14, to introduce a system -- because there was no change in the laws of the game -- if the international football board approves the use of technology at a meeting in July.” Jacob notes FIFA, which has two systems on trial, will “continue its second phase of testing” during an FA Senior Cup match today, marking the “first time it has been used in an English game.” MLS “hopes to become the first league to introduce the technology.” Scudamore said, “There is no race, no egos. We want to get it right. There is also a commercial aspect. It is not a good negotiating position with the suppliers to tell them we are definitely going to do it by a certain date. We have to negotiate the price. There is a cost to the competition” (LONDON TIMES, 5/16). Scudamore said, “I think it is almost physically impossible for it to be in by the beginning of August, just in terms of FIFA not approving it until July. You have then got to get involved with the people who are producing it and negotiate with them." He added, "We want to do it but you cannot rush something in a few weeks. We also don't think that it needs to be at the start of the season” (GUARDIAN, 5/16).
