NCAA Mandates Injury Reporting For March Madness
· Yahoo Sports
For the first time ever — and in a clear nod to the world of gambling — the NCAA will require all men’s and women’s basketball teams participating in March Madness to report player availability for each game.
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As for the “nod” referenced above, the wording of the press release makes it more of a vigorous head shake toward the gambling world.
“Implemented for the first time in NCAA championships, player availability reports are intended in part to reduce betting-related pressure, solicitations and harassment student-athletes and other team personnel receive from bettors connected to playing status,” the release reads. “The NCAA runs the largest integrity monitoring service program in the world and provides college athletes with online threat detection services as part of its comprehensive strategy to respond to the rise of sports betting.”
The player-availability reports will be a pilot program for the NCAA during the men’s and women’s Division 1 March Madness season and may lead to similar reporting requirements for other sports moving forward.
Initial reports must be submitted to the NCAA by 9 p.m. the day before a game (local time). Updates to the report can be made up to two hours prior to tip-off.
Teams will have three options to list their players on the report: “available,” indicating a more than 75% likelihood they will suit up; “questionable,” indicating up to a 75% chance to play; and “out,” which means the player will not be playing.
March is here, and a reminder: We do not need NCAA Tournament expansion.
— Mike Monaco (@MikeMonaco_) March 4, 2026
March Madness is perfect.
Thank you.
March Madness follows the crowd
HD Intelligence will serve as the player-availability reporting service provider for the 2026 Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. The company has been serving five NCAA conferences in recent years — the ACC, Big 12, Big 10, Big East, and SEC — which already require player-availability reports.
The reports will be made available to the public at NCAA.com.
Teams that fail to follow the policy may be punished, with the first offense up to a $10,000 penalty to the college, the second offense up to $25,000, and a third offense could yield a $30,000 penalty and a head coach penalty up to $10,000.