The Atlantic Coast Conference is adding injury reports before conference games beginning with the upcoming football season, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said Tuesday.
Injury reports, which are commonplace in professional sports, will need to be made public by teams at least 48 hours before kickoff. The SEC added injury reports ahead of conference games last year, and the Big Ten did the same in 2023. The Mid-American Conference, a much smaller league, also added them in 2024.
The Big 12 is the only power conference that will not require injury reports before conference games this fall.
A new look for the ACC
Starting later this year, coaches will be able to designate players as “available,” “questionable,” “doubtful,” or “out.”
Injury reports increase the transparency of programs for fans. More importantly, according to Phillips, they will protect student-athletes from harassment from individuals engaged in sports betting who want to obtain private information.
“There’s stresses on our student-athletes from individuals that are trying to garner information. Sometimes it’s pretty innocent because they just want to know, they’re a big fan, but other times it really does trickle and lead yourself to the gambling and sports wagering kind of path.”
The ACC also plans to introduce injury reports to its conference basketball and baseball matchups. Coaches for both sports will be required to submit injury reports at least one day before the opening tip-off or first pitch.
Fines for coaches who do not properly or punctually disclose their players’ statuses will earn their schools $25,000 to $100,000 fines.
According to Phillips, coaches in the conference did not push back on injury reporting.
“Every coach has to do what they have to do to get their team ready, and there's always gamesmanship. That's been around 100 years, and it's going to continue. But [availability reporting] is the right thing to do.”
Will the reports help?
The era of legal sports betting has increased the number of eyes on sports across the country, including at the collegiate level. Student-athletes have often shouldered the burden of harassment levied by curious, if not enraged, sports bettors trying to get a step ahead or expressing their frustrations after a loss.
Although specific data is not available, last year’s college football season drew several massive eight- and nine-figure bets. That was part of a year in which sportsbooks accepted about $150 billion in wagers across all sports.
With that pressure in mind, SMU coach Rhett Lashlee – who wasn’t thrilled with the idea – said that it wasn’t worth raising a stir.
“We don’t need to do it because one, it’s one more thing we have to do, and two, we’re all just going to say questionable or whatever. I get it. I know why the NFL does it. I know why we’re trending that way in college. Our leadership thinks it’s good for our league, and we’re going to do it.”
An example of the role of availability reports could be seen with the Alabama baseball team in 2023.
Coach Brad Bohanon informed an associate that his star pitcher was injured and was going to be pulled from a contest against LSU, but waited until the associate placed a wager on LSU to beat Alabama before he announced the injury, just before the first pitch.
Bohanon was fired and issued a 15-year show-cause order, while Alabama received three years of probation and a $5,000 fine and was required to implement a gambling harm and prevention program.