Before the college football season kicks off in the Big Ten next week, coaches around the conference will have to get up to speed on a brand new conference-wide policy. And this is a policy that may not be welcomed by coaches like Penn State’s James Franklin or Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.
On Friday, the Big Ten announced it has adopted a new policy regarding player availability reports to be mandated on college football gamedays beginning this season. Each Big Ten institution will be required to submit a gameday availability report before each football game this season. Those reports will be submitted no later than two hours before the scheduled kickoff to the conference office, and those reports will then be shared publicly through the Big Ten media accounts on the conference website and on social media.
Any schools not following this new procedure will be subject to disciplinary action by the Big Ten according to the conference’s sportsmanship policy.
The Big Ten has aligned with U.S. Integrity to implement this new policy. U.S. Integrity will assist in monitoring the process and assist with resources to help prevent players and coaches around the league from engaging in prohibited sports wagering. This is notable in light of recent headlines surrounding the Iowa and Iowa State football programs.
The player availability reports are a key resource for those gambling on sports like football, and now they will have more reliable information to rely on for games involving Big Ten teams.
Franklin has typically been a coach that has been reluctant to share too many details about players and their availability status, more to prevent talking about injuries. The mandatory release of player availability reports will force Franklin to share at least a small fraction of information about the status of his roster. Penn State will not have to share information regarding the extend of any injuries, as it appears the reports will simply have to tell if a player is available or not.
But is this a step toward mandatory injury reports? Hopefully not, but if you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to want a glass of milk.
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