Texas launches Bevo Lab, an AI and sports analytics hub backed by Google, Dell, and SHI
The University of Texas has unveiled the Bevo Lab, a 25,000-square-foot sports analytics and artificial intelligence facility inside Austin's Innovation Tower, with Google Cloud, Dell Technologies, and SHI International serving as founding partners. The lab currently powers a football tool called Football Scouting Intelligence, which automates the opponent scouting reports coaches previously compiled by hand, and according to Texas has already cut game-preparation time by more than 15 hours per week this season. Separate AI models evaluate roughly 5,000 men's and 5,000 women's college basketball transfer portal candidates, projecting how each player would perform against SEC competition, and a football version grades transfer targets across nearly every position group. The lab also helps Texas determine how to allocate revenue-sharing payments to players, with an eye toward identifying the best available talent within the program's budget constraints. Twenty-four undergraduates have been hired for the inaugural team, with plans to grow to around 40 student researchers in year one and eventually reach approximately 200 annually; full operations are expected in 2027.
The data also helps inform what Texas should pay players in revenue-sharing money.
Why it matters
For service providers: The Bevo Lab signals a growing market for AI and analytics platforms built specifically for collegiate athletic departments, with Texas positioning the model as one other schools may replicate.
For coaches: AI-driven scouting and game-planning tools could reshape how coaching staffs prepare each week and evaluate roster additions through the transfer portal.
For athletes: Revenue-sharing allocations at Texas are now partly shaped by AI-generated player valuations, which may influence how individual athletes are compensated.
For collectives: Collectives and programs elsewhere may face pressure to adopt similar data-driven approaches to roster budgeting as this model gains visibility.
Read the full story at CBS Sports
Sources
- CBS Sports · Brandon Marcello: Texas introduces Bevo Lab: AI-powered game-planning tool also evaluates portal targets, rev-share budgets