The SEC has announced it will publicly release player injury reports ahead of games to safeguard the integrity of college sports. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Setting an example
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a flag bearer in the world of college football, with its teams dominating the list of National Championship winners.
follows the examples of the Mid-American and Big Ten conferences
It announced on Tuesday that it will be making player injury reports public starting this season as a safeguard to protect the integrity of games with legal sports betting continually growing in popularity. This will not only cover football, but also basketball and baseball. It follows the examples of the Mid-American and Big Ten conferences that already implemented this policy.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said that the goal of the new approach is to “reduce pressure from outside entities seeking participation information” and shows the commitment of the 16 teams to protect their athletes and the integrity of games.
Frequent updates
The new rule requires each school to provide an availability report three days before its next SEC football game and publish updates each day before delivering the last report 90 minutes before kickoff.
People can view the reports directly through the SEC website, with each player assigned a specific designation. The labels are “available,” “probable,” “questionable,” “doubtful,” and “out.” On gameday, this narrows down to “available,” “game-time decision,” and “out.”
Hefty punishments
Any school that fails to deliver its football reports accurately and on time will pay a penalty of $25,000 for the initial offenses, which can rise to $100,000 for repeat issues. The fine is capped at $15,000 for basketball and $25,000 for baseball.
The SEC football season began Thursday night, with Arkansas and Missouri winning their non-conference games comfortably.
Not everyone is a fan of this new policy. Florida Head Coach Billy Napier believes that teams will engage in gamesmanship to try to confuse opponents, especially if there are doubts about a star player.
