Major League Soccer has appointed the Deltatre-owned Sportec Solutions as its video assistant referee (VAR) technology provider as the league’s 29th season gets underway.
The deal runs until 2030 and comes a year after MLS signed a long-term deal with Sportec Solutions to collect and create enhanced data feeds for all MLS, MLS Next Pro and Leagues Cup matches on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
The deal for VAR is separate from the data deal.
The league said that, despite there being a limited number of top-level VAR providers in the market, it still “conducted an extensive process” that included looking at small start-ups, established companies and “all traditional players” before agreeing with Sportec.
“We had a real vision that the world of soccer technology is getting more integrated very quickly and it’s hard to think of these things as disparate, discrete items in this world that we’re living in,” MLS senior vice-president of emerging ventures Chris Schlosser told SportBusiness.
“With Sportec Solutions, we saw a partner that would allow the league to really control its own destiny, to be able to invest in what we think is the future of sports and the future of soccer.
“Everybody else is conflicted in some way shape or form. They’re an independent operator. We can go deep with them, we can control our own roadmap, figure out where we can make investments, create all new categories for data.”
VAR was first introduced in competitive MLS matches in 2017. Goal-line technology (GLT) is not used in the league with commissioner Don Garber having previously described it as too expensive to install and run.
Sportec Solutions has opened an operations center in Arlington, Texas as part of its investment in North American soccer.
The facility will host a range of services for MLS, including all video reviews, medical sideline reviews and match data gathering. The work with Sportec Solutions mark the first time for MLS that all of these services will be managed in a central location.
“We’re delighted to further strengthen our relationship with MLS at this exciting time in the league’s evolution, and we are excited to help them create a new paradigm in centralised, league-controlled soccer technology,” said Christian Holzer, managing director of Sportec Solutions.
New business under Deltatre ownership
The deal announced today (Thursday) marks the latest piece of new business since Sportec Solutions changed ownership.
In 2020, Deltatre acquired a majority stake with the German Football League (DFL) retaining a 49-per-cent stake. The Cologne-based company was founded in 2016 as a subsidiary of the DFL’s host broadcast arm Sportcast and as a joint venture with Deltatre, which invested in a 25-per-cent stake at the time.
Under Deltatre’s majority ownership, the company began to take its data provision services to the market.
Speaking to SportBusiness in 2020, then Deltatre chief executive Giampiero Rinaudo said: “In the past four years, the main goal of Sportec was to serve Bundesliga. It was not really a commercial entity. The commercial part was Deltatre AG that was providing services to Sportec Solutions.
“Now things will be different as it will be a company that will be independent, we’ll have to make profit for the shareholders and that will be the new challenge.”
Then, in 2022, Sportec Solutions acquired a majority shareholding in Vieww, the Germany-based provider of GLT and VAR systems. It also became to the officiating technology supplier for the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga.
Vieww has gone on to land deals with the Portuguese men’s third tier Liga 3 and the Scottish Premiership. This growth in recent years has helped Sportec Solutions become a challenger in the VAR technology space as a Fifa-approved VAR technology provider, something that MLS was keen to have in a partner.
“We’ve seen them execute, we’ve seen them under pressure, have to stand up systems in short amounts of time, deal with 29-plus different stadiums around the country and had a high degree of confidence that at the end of the day they would deliver an excellent product for us,” Schlosser said.
“Next generation soccer experience”
Schlosser claimed that having Sportec Solutions with VAR is part of a larger vision for MLS and emerging technology, explaining: “The idea that VAR sits outside of everything else is just antiquated.
“This vision we have of a next generation soccer experience where we are using the latest in technology, whether it’s computer vision, whether it’s with AI, cloud compute to really impact the broad soccer experience is so critical.
“These things, they all may be discrete points or technology discussions, but these investments we’re making are really changing the trajectory of the sport of soccer and we think that MLS, with our partnerships with Apple and with Adidas, is really uniquely positioned to innovate and drive the entire soccer world forward.
“You’re already starting to see that if you watch the MLS broadcasts, they’re very different from the other soccer broadcasts around the world. We’re just getting started as we kick off our second season.”
News of the Sportec Solutions agreement also comes as MLS referees have been locked out as the season starts.
The lockout was imposed against the referees after they rejected a new union contract. The referees’ union, the Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA), has also alleged unfair labour practices against MLS and the Professional Referee Organization (PRO).