The Mid-American Conference (MAC) will implement game day injury reporting for the 2024 football season, the Group of Five conference announced Thursday. The reports will be issued no later than three hours before scheduled kickoffs, and failure to comply with the rule could result in disciplinary action from the conference.
The MAC joins the Big Ten as the only two college football conferences with game day availability reports, which were created largely due to national sports betting growth in recent years. Conferences have grown concerned with bettors asking players, coaches and other staffers for inside injury information, and there’s a belief among administrators that official injury reports can cut down on those requests for information.
Another college football conference, the SEC, says it’s strongly considering adding mandatory injury reporting ahead of this season as well.
“We continue to advance the student-athlete availability reporting policy, but it has not been finalized,” SEC Associate Commissioner Herb Vincent told Action Network. “The policy has been updated and is subject to further review. We will announce a final decision when it is complete. If implemented, it will be for conference games only.”
Other leagues, like the ACC, Big 12, CUSA and MWC, all told Action Network they don’t plan on having mandatory injury reports in 2024. Action Network didn’t hear back from the Sun Belt, which didn’t have injury reports last year.
Is One Report Enough?
In theory, the reports could cut down on the desire for bettors to secure inside information. In practice, however, it’s likely that injury information and player availability news will still leak well before three hours prior to kickoff.
With betting markets open days before a game starts, there’s significant value to knowing a player’s health status days in advance. NFL injury reporting, for example, requires both practice reports and gameday availability reports. Without regular updates during the week, bettors will still have curiosity about the health of key players in the Big Ten and MAC.
While college football may reach the NFL's reporting standards point one day, the Big Ten and MAC aren’t quite there yet. As a result, it’s unclear how much of an impact injury reporting will really have on deterring bettors from seeking inside information from players and coaches.
