After an ongoing relationship spanning several years, Zoom is now the Official Unified Communications Platform of MLB and Presenting Partner of MLB Replay Review. The partnership has produced league-first applications of Zoom for games and broadcast, including the Zoom Replay Operations Center, Zoom Contact Center, and Zoom Events. Now these features will become more transparent to fans and will enhance communications among front office staff, umpires, and league officials
Starting with the 2023 season, the Crew Chief — the most senior member of the four-man umpire crew — will connect to the Zoom Replay Operations Center in New York through Zoom Contact Center during a remote replay review. At the same time, fans will get live access to the replay review decision as it’s made. During national broadcasts on the MLB Network and Apple TV+, fans will also see the Zoom Replay Operations Center in action and hear from an expert rules analyst dedicated to discussing calls with the broadcast team in real time.
In the 2022 MLB season, there were more than 1,400 replay reviews. Replay review is designed to provide timely review of certain disputed calls and is initiated by a manager challenge or by the umpire crew chief. Historically, the league’s replay review was reliant on disparate technology and audio-only communication with umpires on the field, resulting in fans being disconnected from the decision-making process. Instead of the broadcasters speculating what the review officials might be discussing during the review, fans will get more details on the thought process of overturning or upholding calls on the field and will witness the process themselves. This is important because the remote review official is the final authority on the calls including potential home runs, non-home run boundary calls, fair/foul balls, force/tag plays, catch plays in the outfield, baserunning calls, collisions and hit-by-pitch, tag-ups, and interference on double plays.
In addition to calls on the field, Zoom will play an instrumental role with communication at high-pressure MLB events, including “Day One of the 2023 MLB Draft” and other marquee events. Zoom will be used to securely deliver sensitive information in one of the most high-pressure and high-profile MLB Events, Day One of the 2023 MLB Draft.
The Zoom all-in-one collaboration platform is also integrated across several MLB clubs, platforms, and broadcast outlets. Many MLB teams are using Zoom Meetings and Zoom Phone to stay connected with colleagues and customers, as well as Zoom Contact Center to deliver prompt, accurate, and highly personalized experiences to their fans. And the MLB’s corporate offices use Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone, Zoom Rooms, and Zoom Webinars to enable effective communication and streamline operations.
“Partnering with Zoom, a category leader that reinvented the way we connect, was a natural next step for us,” MLB Chief Operations and Strategy Officer Chris Marinak says. “We are excited to integrate Zoom Contact Center and other Zoom platform technology into our gameday operations and continue to modernize experiences in a secure, reliable, and innovative way.”
For Zoom it’s yet another example of applications that reach beyond it’s now-traditional role in videoconferencing and remote work.
