New York City, NY - October 06, 2026 - Hotspur Labs, the recently launched corporate venture programme of Tottenham Hotspur delivered by TPF Labs at The Players Fund, today announced that it will co-host the Spurs² Hackathon with the San Antonio Spurs, ScorePlay, and video AI company, TwelveLabs.
Running over two days on October 22 and 23 at The University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business, teams will use ScorePlay's platform and open API, and TwelveLabs' video intelligence, to build solutions to real content problems set by the executive teams of Tottenham Hotspur and the San Antonio Spurs. The result will be tools that a Premier League club and an NBA team can both put to work.
ScorePlay has become the media infrastructure that teams, leagues, and federations run their media operations on, including Tottenham Hotspur. In April, ScorePlay launched Connect, which opened that up, giving partners, including TwelveLabs, a direct path to build on ScorePlay and reach the organizations already using it.
Built around media, not performance data
Spurs² focuses on media and content, where a Premier League club and an NBA franchise can work from the same playbook. The tags, rights and metadata behind that content can be centralized on ScorePlay's media infrastructure, and run through AI tools like TwelveLabs' video intelligence.
Teams will choose from two challenge areas:
Assisted Auto-Production Engine: Clubs capture hundreds to thousands of assets per game but have little bandwidth to reuse them. Teams will build an engine that uses live data, fan reactions on social media and what the AI sees in the footage to decide which new photo and video content to make, and then make it for different fan audiences. The producer approves rather than searches.
Rights and Compliance: Every asset comes with rules about territory, platform, competition, sponsor visibility and expiry. Teams will build an interface that checks each asset against league and regional rules, writes the verdict and reasoning back onto the asset, and shows in seconds what can be used, where and for how long.
A week at the center of sports business
Spurs² runs alongside the McCombs Business of Sports Institute’s flagship Business of Sports Summit (BOSS) on October 23, in a week when Austin hosts the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, the San Antonio Spurs' Friday night game against the Houston Rockets at Moody Center, and Texas Longhorns football against Ole Miss on Saturday.
“Sports organizations are producing more content than ever, but creating it is no longer the hardest part. The harder problem is knowing which moments matter, who they matter to, where they can be used, and getting them to fans while those moments still have value. That becomes even more important as we reach fans across more markets, platforms and rights environments. Spurs² gives us an opportunity to explore how AI can help us make more of the content we already create, working alongside Tottenham Hotspur on a challenge that increasingly matters across global sports." said Charlie Kurian, Director Strategy & Innovation at Spurs Sports & Entertainment, San Antonio Spurs.
The event opens with addresses from both clubs and the supporting partners, including The Players Fund and the Business of Sport Institute at McCombs. Teams then have a day and a half to build, with a student team from UT McCombs competing alongside the visiting teams.
"Hotspur Labs was built to bring Tottenham Hotspur the best ideas and companies to solve real problems, not theoretical ones. Content and rights management are exactly that for us, and our approach to commercial innovation is something shared by the San Antonio Spurs.” said Rob Pickering, Chief Technology Officer at Tottenham Hotspur.
“Taking Hotspur Labs to Austin shows the kind of partnerships and opportunities we want this program to create. This is the latest example of our global ambition for the Club and for this initiative," added Ryan Norys, Chief Revenue Officer at Tottenham Hotspur.
On Friday, a fireside chat hosted by Flora Bell and Andy Marston, Managing Directors of TPF Labs at The Players Fund, comes before the final presentations. Winners are chosen by a panel of executives from Tottenham Hotspur, the San Antonio Spurs, TwelveLabs and ScorePlay.
"Sports organizations have never captured more content, or had less time to use it," said Victorien Tixier, Co-founder and CEO, ScorePlay. "Spurs² puts real problems from two world-class organizations in front of people who can build the answers in two days."
TPF Labs is curating the guest list with both clubs, bringing in senior leaders from sport, media and technology.
"Rights and production look like two distinct problems, but they're really two sides of the same coin: knowing what's in your content and what you're allowed to do with it. We built Spurs² around both because that's what teams actually deal with, and we wanted to see what builders in Austin do when video intelligence is put directly in their hands." said Jesse White, Global Sports Lead at TwelveLabs.
“We’re thrilled to host the hackathon at our flagship Business of Sports Summit and to have a Texas McCombs student team competing alongside the visiting teams. With the San Antonio Spurs and Tottenham Hotspur taking part, and support from The Players Fund, TwelveLabs, and ScorePlay, it’s a chance for students to build something in direct conversation with people working across the sports industry.” - Professor Matt Bowers, Managing Director, Texas McCombs Business of Sports Institute
Participation
Apply by Friday 9 October. Places are limited and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Applying does not guarantee a place, and you will be contacted if successful. Please apply here.
Media Contacts
For ScorePlay: mariana@scoreplay.io (Mariana Félix Soares, Marketing Manager)
For The Players Fund: andy@playersfund.vc (Andy Marston, Managing Director, TPF Labs)
For TwelveLabs: jesse.white@twelvelabs.io (Jesse White, Global Sports Lead, TwelveLabs)
For McCombs Business of Sports Institute: katherine.rowe@mccombs.utexas.edu (Katherine Rowe, Strategic Advisor, Texas McCombs Business of Sports Institute)
