The Southeastern Conference (SEC), a powerhouse in college sports, is considering introducing mandatory football injury reports to combat the sharing of insider information with sports bettors.
Teams currently don’t have to report which players are nursing injuries, which means that people within the team environment could potentially reveal this knowledge to a bettor who could then use it to their advantage.
For example, the University of Alabama fired the head coach of its baseball team last year after he disclosed to a friend that the team’s top starting pitcher was injured and was not going to play that day. The recipient of the info then tried to place a six-figure wager on the game.
a good way to stop people from pressuring student-athletes
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey spoke to teams this week about rolling out the new requirement. Georgia Bulldogs Head Football Coach Kirby Smart said that he believes it would be a good way to stop people from pressuring student-athletes into revealing information.
The only one of the five power conferences in college football that has mandatory injury reports is the Big Ten, which requires teams to disclose injury information at least two hours before kickoff.