The Big Ten Conference announced on Friday evening that it will implement a student-athlete availability report for all football competition during the 2023 season. The league also announced a new partnership with U.S. Integrity (USI), a collaboration that will look to help prevent student-athletes, coaches, and staff from engaging in prohibited sports wagering.
While not explicitly stated by the league, availability reports are effectively a byproduct of the onset of sports gambling as the status of star players ahead of big games is increasingly linked to wagers made on such games. The inclusion of USI is also likely linked to an increasing possibility that student-athletes themselves might – and have – gambled on events.
“The well-being of our students, coaches, and staff, as well as the integrity of our competitions are of paramount importance,” said Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti in a press release. “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.”
According to the conference, teams will be required to submit gameday availability reports prior to each game this season. That information will be submitted no later than two hours before scheduled kickoff times and then subsequently released publicly by the conference. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action under the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy.
USI will provide integrity monitoring, educational, and social media monitoring services to the Big Ten Conference via its proprietary dashboard. USI conducts analysis across dozens of data sets to proactively identify irregular contest-level, officiating and wagering patterns.
