The RFEF opts for Hawk-Eye Innovations as a VAR provider and Mediapro announces the challenge to the tender

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) opts for the services of the Sony subsidiary to the detriment of Mediapro, which has already announced that it will appeal the contest, understanding that its bases “especially benefited one of the two bidders, so that the economic offer and the quality of the technical aspects were irrelevant.”

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has chosen the company Hawk-Eye Innovations, subsidiary of Sony, as a technology provider Video Assistance to Refereeing (VAR) for the First and Second Division during the 2019/2020 season.

In the election, which leave out Mediapro which was also participating in the contest, according to the RFEF "the great experience of Hawk-Eye has been taken into account, to which FIFA awarded the 2018 World Cup in Russia and UEFA the Champions League and which also provides this technology to the main European leagues."

Mediapro's reaction was immediate and this Wednesday the audiovisual group announced that it will challenge the result of the contest since in its opinion "the rules of the contest especially benefited one of the two bidders, so that the economic offer and the quality of the technical aspects were irrelevant."

Furthermore, he highlights that his offer was “the most advantageous of the two presented, meaning a saving almost a million euros“.

Mediapro, which provides VAR services to 16 competitions around the world, considers that the bases of the contest called by the RFEF were based on subjective criteria that awarded the contract in advance and that such a practice contradicts the CNM doctrineC reflected in the report on the RFEF proposal for The commercialization of the audiovisual broadcasting rights in Europe and internationally of the Copa del Rey final 2019 where it is established that "the procedure designed by the RFEF is intended to be a competitive procedure. However, the PL maintains great discretion for the adjudicator and a high lack of transparency, aspects that would prevent the development of a competitive process. Therefore, the marketing conditions would not adjust to the minimum required standard...".

For Mediapro, although the competition clauses may seem apparently competitive, the highest score was awarded to a single criterion: the number of competitions in which services have been provided. A requirement that only benefited another operator, the group assures.

Mediapro has also offered to provide VAR services to the second division and has been excluded from the award planned in the RFEF tender possibly due to the difficulty for other operators in guaranteeing this service.