A Power Four conference is making changes amid the influx of wagering on college sports.
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips announced at the 2025 ACC Football Kickoff this week changes to the conference’s reporting process for football injuries. Starting this upcoming football season, ACC member institutions will provide public injury reports at least 48 hours before all conference games to protect student-athletes from individuals attempting to obtain insider information used for gambling. The change in procedure will mirror the NFL’s injury reporting process, which applies certain injury designations to athletes.
“There’s stresses on our student-athletes from individuals that are trying to garner information,” said Phillips. “Sometimes it’s pretty innocent because they just want to know, they’re a big fan, but other times it really does trickle and lead yourself to the gambling and sports wagering kind of path.”
The ACC’s rule change requires athletic departments to categorize their football players under four categories, which are “available,” “questionable,” “doubtful” and “out.”
The conference is also planning to implement injury reporting changes for basketball and baseball. It plans to require teams to provide injury reports at least one day before games.
The ACC will levy undisclosed fines for failure to adhere to the new injury reporting rules.
ACC follows in the footsteps of another major conference
The ACC is implementing its rule change after the SEC adjusted its policies in 2024.
Last August, the SEC announced the requirement of member institutions to provide public injury reports for football, baseball and men’s and women’s basketball. The SEC mandates the public injury reports to also protect its student-athletes from gambling-related harm.
The SEC requires its football teams to submit injury reports three days before each game along with daily updates and a final report submitted 90 minutes before each contest.
Baseball and basketball programs in the SEC must file injury reports the night before each game. The teams are also required to provide an update on the report each game day.
Fines for failing to adhere to the reporting rules range between $25,000 and $100,000. In addition to the SEC and ACC, the Big Ten and Mid-American Conference require public injury reports.
