Premier League to broadcast referee-player audio during live matches

The Premier League will permit audio of on-field conversations between players and referees during live broadcasts for the first time this season.

The use of audio by the Premier League’s domestic TV rights holders, Sky Sports and TNT Sports, is part of an expansion of the RefCam system, which became a permanent feature of top-flight coverage last season after a six-week trial at the start of the campaign. The head-mounted RefCams were used by broadcasters to ­provide near‑instant replays of match ­incidents from a new angle in an attempt to enhance the viewer experience, but under the terms of their agreement with clubs the audio captured by the cameras was not televised until several days later.

The regulations will be relaxed this season, however, to permit a limited use of RefCam audio during live matches, with one or two incidents to be broadcast from each of the Premier League’s 38 match rounds.

The audio will not be broadcast live or include any incidents that are referred to the video assistant referee, as that is not permitted under the laws of the game, which are set by the International Football Association Board (Ifab). The new audio offering will be made available as part of near-live instant replays, however, while the number of TV games featuring RefCam will increase from 20 to about 45. The audio experiment will be trialled first before being rolled out and will not feature on the Premier League’s opening weekend.

Football has been slow to replicate the broadcasting innovations embraced by other sports, with in-match interviews and dressing room cameras long since accepted in cricket and both codes of rugby, as well as many American sports. Under increasing pressure from rights holders, football is belatedly looking to open up.

The Premier League and refereeing body Pro Ref – formerly PGMOL – are understood to be lobbying Ifab over relaxing the rules that prevent live audio from being broadcast.