Live.

PRO14 officials are considering a radical change to Television Match Official (TMO) decisions at live games to enhance the fan experience in stadiums.

The cross-border competition is exploring the idea of broadcasting decision-making conversations between match referees and TMOs to the live crowds in the stadiums as they happen.

Fans can listen to what’s going on between the referee and the TMO when watching a game at home on television but those in the stadium are oblivious to what’s going on, only seeing the footage when there’s a screen available at the ground.

“There are lots of little things we can do to increase fan engagement,” Greg Garner, the tournament’s elite referees manager, told RugbyPass.

“How do you get people to understand referees are doing a better job? Well, let them hear what the referees are talking about to the TMOs when they are in the stadium. Give them the audio. Put the referee’s voice on the loudspeaker so that people can understand what is going on.

“One of the issues with rugby and refereeing in all sport is when people don’t understand the process they get frustrated whereas if they understand the process, they understand what is going on. If they can hear the dialogue between the referee, the TMO and his assistants, then they can understand the decision.”

what do you think? Would you welcome this?