In a move seemingly motivated by concerns about gambling, the Big Ten Conference announced today it will debut a gameday student-athlete availability report for all football competition during the 2023 season.
In addition to the conference-wide reporting, the Big Ten has partnered with U.S. Integrity (USI) to enhance monitoring efforts and provide additional educational resources to help prevent student-athletes, coaches, and staff from engaging in prohibited sports wagering.
Gambling investigations at Iowa resulted earlier this month in criminal charges filed against multiple current or former athletes, with ex-Hawkeyes basketball player Ahron Ulis the one with the highest profile.
Athletes from the Iowa football and baseball teams were also charged.
In a release by the Big Ten on the new rule, new Commissioner Tony Petitti mentioned concerns about the integrity of league competition.
“The well-being of our students, coaches, and staff, as well as the integrity of our competitions are of paramount importance,” said Petitti.
“Enhanced transparency through availability reporting and partnering with U.S. Integrity strengthens our efforts to protect those who participate in our games as well as the integrity of the games themselves. I’m grateful for the collaboration of our schools, coaches, and administrators.”
Big Ten institutions are responsible for submitting gameday availability reports prior to every contest this season. Information will be submitted by schools no later than two hours before scheduled kickoff times to the conference office and distributed on BigTen.org/FBReports and @B1GFootball on X/Twitter.
Breach of the gameday reporting policy will be subject to disciplinary action under the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy.
The Big Ten, in collaboration with all 14 institutions, will work to evaluate the process and accuracy of information throughout the season, refining the protocol as needed.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
