Sports fans want to see more AI tech brought in

One in four fans would like to see MORE artificial intelligence tech in sport to help match officials make faster decisions, according to research.

VAR has been criticised in some quarters for interrupting the flow and taking the magic out of the ‘beautiful game’.

Fans believe officials are too slow to make decisions and this hampers their enjoyment of sporting events.

Commissioned by IBM, the research of 2,000 sports fans found a fifth would also like to see more funds pumped into tech which analyses the performance of players and athletes.

Those polled would also like to see more money spent on developing tech which helps coaches scout players and predict what strategies competitors will employ.

Sam Seddon, IBM RFU and Wimbledon client executive, said:

The research also found more than half think there should be a greater investment in sporting tech at grassroots level.

Leatherhead Football Club, which plays in the seventh tier of English football, has done just this – having ploughed more funds into sporting tech last season.

Joe Pavitt, master inventor at IBM, said:

Carried out through OnePoll, the study found six in 10 fans believe more needs to be done to educate fans, players and coaches about the use of new technologies in sport.

Sam Seddon, IBM Wimbledon client executive, said: