Broadcast analytics - an evaluation of video-based tracking systems with constrained player visibility

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Performance Analysis
• Football Analytics

Background:

• Player tracking data from broadcast videos is increasingly common.
• Off-screen player actions are a limitation due to incomplete visibility.
• Assessing the impact of this visibility limitation on data analysis is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how player visibility in soccer broadcast videos affects physical and tactical performance metrics.
• To compare the quality of emulated broadcast tracking data against official player tracking data.
• To determine the reliability of different broadcast data sources for performance analysis.

Main Methods:

• Emulated broadcast player tracking data from scouting feeds (SF) and broadcast television (TV).
• Comparison with official player tracking data (GT) in two experiments.
• Experiment 1: Assessed impact on total and high-speed distance covered.
• Experiment 2: Evaluated effect on tactical formation detection using template matching.

Main Results:

• Scouting feeds (SF) showed 97% player activity visibility, while broadcast television (TV) showed less than 50%.
• Visibility significantly impacted physical intensity metrics (Experiment 1).
• SF visibility had minimal impact on tactical formation accuracy, while TV visibility caused minor reductions (Experiment 2).

Conclusions:

• Broadcast tracking data can be useful for tactical analysis but may be less reliable for physical metrics due to missing data.
• Transparency from data providers regarding methodologies is essential for users to evaluate data suitability.
• Interpolation techniques may improve data quality but do not fully negate visibility limitations.