Sports Technology

Portable VAR for a top European basketball league — no broadcast truck required

Q: What happened after the Vilnius demonstration?

The demonstration opened a longer engagement with LKL. Further demonstrations followed, and ultimately a full system sale — with RRM going on to support all basketball games in Lithuania.

We brought RRM to LKL headquarters and then straight to the court — one touchscreen, instant replay, and a federation convinced.

Client: Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL)
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Date: 29 May 2019
Service: RRM — Referee Repeat Machine

At a glance

We demonstrated RRM live at an LKL game the day after presenting it at federation headquarters — and the relationship that followed put RRM into every basketball game in Lithuania.

This was the first live demonstration of RRM to a top European basketball federation, and the proof that portable video review does not need broadcast-scale infrastructure to be federation-grade.

Client: Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL)
Sector: Basketball — top-tier national league, Lithuania
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Date: 29 May 2019
Engagement: Technology demonstration — presentation + live courtside demo
System: RRM (Referee Repeat Machine)
Outcome: Full system sale; RRM deployed across all LKL games in Lithuania

1touchscreen — the whole review workflow

2days: HQ presentation, then live courtside

1stlive RRM demo to a top European basketball federation

01 — The brief

The brief

LKL is Lithuania's top-tier basketball league — one of the most competitive in Europe. Like every federation running live officiating, they faced a real problem: video review exists at the highest level of the sport, but the infrastructure that normally delivers it assumes a full broadcast setup, a technical crew, and a budget to match. For mid-tier leagues, that has always meant doing without.

We travelled to Vilnius to make a straightforward case: VAR does not have to be complicated. One touchscreen. Instant slow-motion replay. A workflow a referee can operate without any technical support. That was the pitch — and the next day, we proved it courtside at a live league game.

Cameraman in black operates professional camera on tripod, monitoring live feed of LKL RRM feature review — Capturing the LKL RRM feature walkthrough at federation HQ, Vilnius.

02 — What we did

How we approached it

01
Presentation at LKL headquarters
We opened with a sit-down at LKL HQ in Vilnius, walking federation leadership through RRM's core concept. The argument was simple: a referee should be able to call up any angle, in slow motion, in the time it takes to unlock a phone. No menus. No technical intermediary. One decision, one touch.
02
Live courtside demonstration
The following day, we took RRM to a live LKL game and ran the system exactly as it would operate in a real match — instant replay, multi-angle review, touchscreen control, all courtside. Federation leadership saw it working under actual game conditions, not in a controlled demo room.

Three men in discussion at a conference table at LKL headquarters in Vilnius discussing RRM — Negotiations underway at LKL HQ, Vilnius — RRM on the table

VAR does not need to be complicated — one touchscreen, no more steps than a smartphone.
Kostiantyn Moseichenko — Well Run

03 — The setup

The setup

System: RRM (Referee Repeat Machine) — portable video-review system derived from APEX OS
Interface: Touchscreen-first referee portal — instant slow-motion replay and multi-angle VAR review
Deployment: Courtside at a live LKL game, Vilnius
Operation: Designed to be operated by referees without on-site technical staff

Monitor displaying RRM multi-angle replay interface during LKL headquarters demonstration, Vilnius — RRM portable VAR system demoed live at LKL headquarters

Sony 4K XDCAM camera on Sachtler ace tripod head at LKL sponsor backdrop, Vilnius — frame 1

Cameraman in black operates professional camera on tripod, monitoring live feed of LKL RRM feature review — frame 2

Three men in discussion at a conference table at LKL headquarters in Vilnius discussing RRM — frame 3

Monitor displaying RRM multi-angle replay interface during LKL headquarters demonstration, Vilnius — frame 4

Three men in discussion at LKL headquarters reviewing RRM portable VAR system details, Vilnius — frame 5

Amber LKL Betsafe trophy beside black RRM portable case on dark desk, Vilnius — frame 6

RRM multi-angle replay monitor showing live LKL basketball game courtside in Vilnius arena — frame 7

Mykola Moseichenko, Eugenijus Butenis, and Kostiantyn Moseichenko at courtside RRM demo, LKL arena Vilnius — frame 8

Three men review RRM system on Dell monitor courtside at empty Vilnius LKL arena — frame 9

Sony 4K XDCAM camera on court filming LKL basketball players during live game in Vilnius — frame 10

04 — The outcome

What it led to

LKL leadership received the demonstration positively — and then the relationship moved forward. Further demonstrations followed, and ultimately a full system sale. RRM went on to support all basketball games in Lithuania.

That outcome validated the core proposition behind RRM: federation-grade video review, in a system compact enough to travel in a bag and simple enough for referees to operate alone. The Vilnius visit was the opening move.

Questions, answered

What is RRM and how does it differ from a standard VAR setup?

RRM (Referee Repeat Machine) is a portable video-review system built from the replay layer of APEX OS. It delivers instant slow-motion replay and multi-angle review through a single touchscreen, with no broadcast infrastructure, no technical crew on site, and no menus to navigate — just the review a referee needs, when they need it.

Can RRM be operated by referees without technical support?

Yes. That is the design principle. The LKL demonstration was built around this: referees operating the system themselves, courtside, during a live game. No technician required at the table.

Is RRM suitable for leagues that do not have full broadcast production?

That is exactly where RRM was built to work. The LKL engagement was chosen specifically to prove the point — a top European league, a live match environment, no broadcast-scale setup. The system travels compactly and deploys courtside.

What happened after the Vilnius demonstration?

The demonstration opened a longer engagement with LKL. Further demonstrations followed, and ultimately a full system sale — with RRM going on to support all basketball games in Lithuania.

The service behind this case