AI Resilience Report forUmpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials

AI is already changing sports officiating, but for now it mostly augments referees rather than replacing them. In baseball, Major League Baseball's competition committee voted to implement a challenge system for balls and strikes in the 2026 season, ushering in the era of robot umpiring. The ABS system uses similar technology to the line-calling system in tennis, with 12 cameras in each ballpark tracking the ball with a margin of error around one-sixth of an inch.

The NBA is heading the same direction — as Front Office Sports reported ^[1], commissioner Adam Silver said "Those calls will be done by an AI, automated system with cameras lined around the court. It will take all those so-called objective calls out of the hands of the referees", while subjective calls like fouls will continue to be done by referees, allowing them to put their "full attention" on calling fouls properly. Soccer is going even further: Advanced Semi-Automated Offside Technology will feature at the FIFA World Cup for the first time, allowing faster offside decisions, and unlike the 2022 system, clear offsides will now be sent directly to the match officials on the pitch.

Still, experts stress limits. As one University of Rochester computer vision professor explained, computer vision won't replace referees at the World Cup ^[2] — multiple cameras enable the triangulation of the ball, players, and boundaries to create precise 3D reconstructions that are then provided to officials who make the final call. Trade publication Referee has long documented how video and tech tools have drastically altered the way officials do their jobs ^[3], but human judgment on fouls, safety, and game flow still rules.

Adoption is moving quickly at the top pro leagues because the tech works and the money is huge. During MLB's spring test, teams combined to average around four challenges per game and succeeded 52.2% of the time, proving accuracy gains. Commissioners across leagues are on board — the NHL's Gary Bettman said "embracing technology" is an important way to improve the on-ice experience, adding "We think AI is going to help us fine-tune some of the issues, such as: 'Where exactly is the puck?'".

But full replacement will be slower. Ethical, cultural, and rulebook concerns matter: Hawk-Eye has faced backlash from players due to wrong calls, most recently from tennis star Elena Rybakina, who claimed an AI-ruled call against her was "absolutely wrong". Cost is another brake — installing 12+ synchronized tracking cameras and AI systems is affordable for MLB, the NBA, and FIFA, but not for high schools, youth leagues, or rec sports, where most officiating jobs actually live.

That's important, because amateur sports face a well-documented referee shortage, meaning AI may fill gaps rather than take jobs. For young people curious about this career: the on-field human role — managing players, coaches, safety, and game feel — is exactly the part AI is worst at, so referees who learn to work with the tech will likely be more valuable, not less.