Six years into legal sports betting in many US jurisdictions, changes to sports are apparent. Student-athletes and professional athletes get gambling education, fans heckling players about bets are punished in some locales and the NCAA last spring began asking states to ban college-player prop bets.
But the most recent change heading into the college football season is the injury report. Required in the NFL, injury reports were previously not a part of the college football landscape. The Big Ten last year became the first Power Five conference to mandate them. This year, it appears the Southeastern Conference (SEC) will follow suit. The SEC opens its season on 29 August when Arkansas hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff and No 11 Missouri hosts Murray State.
The broader college football season officially kicks off on Friday (24 August) when No 10 Florida State plays at Georgia Tech.
So far the SEC has not announced that it will require injury reporting. But a decision is expected before the season begins. Big Ten athletic directors are at the forefront of pushing for a national injury-report mandate. But the NCAA in 2019 declined to require them.
Sarkisian: NFL-style injury reports a good idea
Like many other new rules around college football, the mandatory injury report is tied to the rise of sports betting.
“There’s a reason that they (the NFL) have the injury report, whether that’s for the opponent, whether that’s because now we don’t have to worry about leaks out of our building and as it pertains to this new idea of online gambling,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian told the Austin American-Statesman earlier this month. “All the stuff that’s going on out there… this is where we’re at; here’s who’s out; here’s who’s questionable; here’s who’s probable. And we go from there.”
Sarkisian isn’t the only SEC coach that thinks mandatory injury reports are a good idea.
“I talk to our guys all the time about, obviously the gambling from their end and how that’s not allowed and you can’t get involved in that, but also any information getting out of our programme and how that impacts the outside world, outside of our bubble,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said after a scrimmage last weekend. “So I get it and whatever we’ve got to do, whatever they put in place, we’ll abide by it.”
Propenents say that introducing mandatory injury reports has the potential to cut down on player harassment.
“Sports betting is basically everywhere, especially on campuses, and the harm it can cause is real,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in January. “Every conversation about the team, the competition and the health and well-being of their teammates is not just chatter anymore, but currency for some and inside information for others. We know college athletes are being harassed by bettors.”
Said SEC commissioner Greg Sankey during conference media days: “It’s not good enough for states just to allow legalised sports gambling. They owe protection to the participants. The online and direct pressures that come from those who aren’t successful in their gambling decisions affect our participants in every state. Legalised sports gambling needs to put in place clearly stated laws that protect participants from hostile behaviour.”
Lawmakers in Maryland and Ohio have implemented such laws.
How do student-athletes avoid hecklers?
Those who believe that there should be no betting, or limited betting, on college sports point to the idea that big-time college athletes don’t have the same level of privacy that professional athletes do. And that gives bettors a kind of access to college players that they will never get with NFL players.
Take Colorado wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter as an example. He’s considered a generational player who makes an impact on both sides of the ball. He’s already a household name. But he has to go to class and live in a dorm. That means interacting with other students, faculty and staff on a daily basis as he pursues a psychology degree. He may also have social media accounts that he handles himself.
Conversely, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes can get in his car inside his garage, drive to the team facility and never interact with the public. If he does interact, it’s a conscious decision to do so. And it’s likely that his public social media accounts are handled by others.
“It’s terrible”, NC basketball player says of wagering culture
During the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, North Carolina’s Armando Bacot was vocal about how sports betting has changed the game.
“It’s terrible,” Bacot told 247 Sports about the wagering culture. “Even at the last game, I guess I didn’t get enough rebounds or something. I thought I played pretty good last game, but I looked at my DMs and I got over 100 messages from people telling me I sucked and stuff like that because I didn’t get enough rebounds.”
Armando Bacot says it can be "annoying" when bettors message him after games when he doesn't achieve certain numbers.
"I looked at my DMs, and I got, like, over 100 messages from people telling me I sucked." pic.twitter.com/PpcNZX2wjL— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) March 28, 2024
Athletes have to learn how to navigate personal contact associated with legal wagering. At the same time, leagues, associations, and teams have different courses to chart. The NCAA, professional leagues, universities and teams educate their players on the harms of gambling — both as an addiction and a career-ending decision.
But coaches, who are on the ground daily with their players, must remain diligent.
Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock told the South Bend Tribune, keeping his players from betting is its own challenge.
“It’s absolutely terrifying,” Denbrock said. “All the prominent (television) networks have their own thing that you can go on a mobile device with your little mini-computer and do something that could cost you your career as a football player.”
Just last week, Irish players were reminded how a bet can change the course of a career. The university late last week suspended its men’s swim team after an independent investigation uncovered evidence of gambling.
“It’s a great reminder for you as the head coach to make sure your student-athletes, your coaching staff, everybody a part of your program understands the rules and the expectations,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman told the Tribune. “This is in football, and this is the example you’re mentioning (men’s swimming): We have to learn from the mistakes of others. We can’t always depend on the mistakes we make to learn from.”
