MLS will implement its Video Assistant Referee (VAR) program "starting with this weekend's games," according to Doug Robertson of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. VAR can review four "match-changing" situations: goals, penalty/no penalty decisions, direct red cards and mistaken identity. Former EPL referee Howard Webb said, "It’s not going to change the way the game is played. If it does that, it’s not doing the job it’s meant to do." All 22 MLS stadiums have been "outfitted with the VAR technology." Webb said he has "intensively" trained almost 50 people in the past five months, which included its use in 135 games through Monday. Three people sitting in a room in each stadium will "work the technology," which includes "four large touch screens, a camera, a communications device, a laptop, one green button, and the big red button in the VAR room." Another monitor is "on the field for the game's referee" to review calls. Webb said, “Yes, it does take a bit more time with video review, but we feel it’s a price worth paying to get to a decision that’s not a clear error" (AJC.com, 8/2). In Orlando, Alicia DelGallo wrote MLS is at the "forefront of a worldwide VAR initiative" by the Int'l Football Association Board. VAR was created by Hawk-Eye, a company that "makes instant replay technology used in 24 sports across the world." Numbers collected throughout an "extensive test period, which included 90 MLS matches," showed that it will "slow the down the game, but very slightly." A total of 701 checks were "made by the VAR in those matches, an average of 8.9 per game." While checks occur constantly, they do not "stop the game." Only 26 "led to reviews." Play took an average of one minute, 25 seconds to resume after checks "without video review" and two minutes, 41 seconds with it (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/3).
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: MLS Commissioner Don Garber discussed video replay during halftime of FS1’s coverage of Wednesday's All-Star Game. Garber: “It’s amazing how cool it is. We're a believer in technology. The North American sports fan is used to it in every aspect of what we do when we consume our content. We wanted to be first, we wanted to not wait. We tested it for almost a full year, we’re ready to roll it out and let me say to everybody, it’s not a silver bullet." He added, "We’ll correct mistakes and that's an important part of what I think our fans want” (“MLS All-Star Game,” FS1, 8/2). Timbers coach Caleb Porter said, "I'm looking forward to it because just from an idea, philosophy standpoint, it will improve errors and it will get correct calls and that's what we want. I think there's a lot of calls this year that if we had VAR, it would have changed the game for us" (Portland OREGONIAN, 8/4).
