Well, this is certainly interesting. On Monday, CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd reported that Big Ten athletic directors have asked the NCAA to implement the requirement for a national injury report in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to regulate legalize gambling. Here’s more from Dodd:
Big Ten commissioners propose a college football national injury report to the NCAA
The proposal was finished in May.
Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images
The conference’s athletic directors proposed to the NCAA Football Oversight Committee in June what would be a first-ever weekly national injury reporting mandate. The ADs claim an injury report is necessary to protect the integrity of the sport.
Such a move would alter one of the most ingrained and long-standing traditions in college football — coaches concealing injuries. From the earliest days of the sport, the decision to release of such information has typically been made by the coaches themselves, sometimes flying in the face of fair play and transparency.
According to Dodd, the proposal was finished in May, and included input from school presidents, coaches, and ADs. Included was also a mention of the NFL’s system for injury reports — teams are required to release a player status report on Fridays, as well as providing injury information during the games themselves.
Injury reports in college football are obviously handled differently depending on the coach — one of the most notable guys who tries to keep injuries hush is Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh. He’s known for doing things like refusing to release an official roster in the fall, and then doing so three days before the season.
While the idea to bring this to the college level certainly is interesting, the one thing that stands out as a potential issue here is enforcement. Unlike the NFL, the NCAA probably couldn’t exactly fine schools when coaches aren’t exactly accurate with the report. Simply put, one would be wise to question the real authenticity of the reports each week if there isn’t a collective way to strictly enforce it.
Additionally, it’d be pretty hard for the NCAA to continue to claim amateurism within college athletics when at the same time it wants to help gamblers make money off the players.
Of course this is all hypothetical unless it gets passed, but it’s certainly interesting that it’s even being discussed to begin with. We’ll see what comes of it.
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