The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has reiterated its stance on student-athletes and university administrators providing information to others associated with sports wagering and has opted not to introduce standardised injury reports.
The decisions were based on the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sports Wagering, created by the Board of Governors in October 2018.
A report containing injury information may have presented problems with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which are intended to safeguard student and patient privacy, but a three-tiered injury report experiment during the 2019 season that would label players as “available,” “possible,” and “unavailable” was suggested in May.
The committee determined that player availability reports would not advance student-athlete well-being nor the integrity of competition, Michael V. Drake, chair of the Board of Governors and president of Ohio State University said.
“The ad hoc committee gathered thorough feedback from conference commissioners, athletics administrators, athletic trainers and student-athletes across all three divisions about potential player availability reporting,” Drake said. “The membership has significant concerns about the purpose, parameters, enforcement and effectiveness of a player availability reporting model.”
The board also encouraged more education on gambling for student-athletes.
In April, the NCAA formally withdrew a ban on its events being hosted in states that offer legal sports betting, having originally opposed plans to extend legal sports betting in the US due to concerns over the association gambling with minors.