How Hawk-Eye Transformed The U.S. Open And Other Sports

Since 2022, the U.S. Open has had no line judges. Instead, the tournament uses Hawk-Eye Live, an electronic line calling system, to judge whether a ball is in or out. Hawk-Eye has replaced hundreds of human referees at the U.S. Open and other major tournaments. But some tournaments, like the French Open, refuse to use Hawk-Eye for officiating purposes. In 2011, Sony purchased Hawk-Eye Innovations and the company has only grown since then. Hawk-Eye covers the majority of tennis tournaments on the WTA and ATP tours, as well as having a presence at the FIFA World Cup, the MLS, NFL, WNBA and in the upcoming NBA season.

CNBC traveled to the U.S. Open to speak with the Hawk-Eye team to understand how Hawk-Eye works in tennis and other major sports.

Corrections on Sept. 12, 2023 at timecode 3:39: The Hawk-Eye cameras used in tennis shoot at 72 fps; timecode 9:38: The WNBA used Hawk-Eye in the past but it is not currently a customer.

Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
01:05 — How Hawk-Eye changed sports
03:41 — How it works
08:57 — The business of Hawk-Eye

Produced, Edited and Shot by: Sydney Boyo
Additional Camera: Raffi Paul
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Post Production Support: Erin Black
Animation by: Christina Locopo, Josh Kalven