As Artificial Intelligence technologically advances, the human aspect of officiating is disappearing. In 2018, Electronic Line Calling was introduced in Tennis, getting rid of line judges and being replaced with a to computer make the calls. In 2025, it will be at every professional Tennis tournament making the calls.

Baseball fans have been asking the question for years “when will Major League Baseball (MLB) switch to robot umpires?” While it is not clear for certain when the MLB will switch, Commissioner Rob Manfred has said they will test the system at Spring Training 2025. If all goes well this could lead to robot umpires being implemented full time into 2026. Although, Manfred has stated “the league is still working on technical issues and isn’t committed to a specific date.”

As betting on Sports gains popularity year by year, bad calls by referees get criticized more and more by fans as some of them have money on the line. The National Football League (NFL) has a different style of game that can’t only be patrolled by robot referees. The NFL is trying to implement a robot system to judge first downs to the exact mark where the ball ends up. Many complaints with officiating though come from the penalties that are called on plays, or sometimes, the penalties that aren’t called on plays.

On a penalty such as Pass Interference, it is completely up to the Referee’s judgement on whether it qualifies as a foul or not. There is a fine line between what is the right and wrong call and usually people won’t be happy either way.

There is an element of human interaction in sports that is disappearing as technology advances forward. It has completely disappeared from Tennis; it is slowing leaving from Baseball but in Football, people are still arguing Pass Interference. In the future, John McAnroe will be yelling at a computer, Terry Francona will be screaming at a robot, and good luck winning that argument.