Big 12 to Require Injury Reports for Football and Basketball Next Season

The Big 12 is making another big move beginning next season.

On Wednesday, the conference announced that it will begin player availability reporting for football and basketball next season. The Big 12 is falling in line with other power conferences in requiring injury reports as the college game continues to gain more traction in the betting world and overall become more like professional sports.

The conference said in a statement that football reports will be updated daily beginning three days before a game and another 90 minutes before kickoff. Meanwhile, men’s and women’s basketball will report the night before a game and again 90 minutes before tipoff.

As for the designations that will be seen, the Big 12 announced that football will feature designations of available, probable, questionable, doubtful or out. Meanwhile, basketball will simply feature available, game-time decision or out.

While it is yet to be seen exactly how this will impact the conference, this certainly seems to be a move in the right direction. Transparency is key in this ever-evolving era of college sports, and this should also enhance the experience for fans as reports will be made available on the conference’s website, allowing easy access.

How it impacts Oklahoma State

If there’s anything that Mike Gundy has avoided in his tenure at OSU, it’s giving out sensitive information about injuries in a clear and concise manner. Now, he won’t have a choice in the matter.

Not to say this was a stance only Gundy held, this has been the rule of the college football landscape across the country for decades. Sometimes labeled as stinginess or gamesmanship, injuries have been a sensitive topic that coaches don’t want to expand too much on, particularly on a game-to-game basis.

Of course, this doesn’t necessarily end the gamesmanship by any means, it just tweaks it. There will be more transparency on players officially listed as out or available, especially in the final report 90 minutes before a game.

However, with the various designations in football and game-time decision label for basketball, this could also simply allow teams to cast even more doubt about its players availability to try and get a slight edge on the opponent.

Surely, there will be some tweaks to this system as time passes, but for now, this is a great step in the right direction for the Big 12. Unsurprisingly, Brett Yormark and company are willing to evolve in this era of college sports, and it could again lead to desired results for the conference.