Power 4’s Next Era: Will Player Availability Reports Fuel Betting Ties?

This college football season will be the first in which each Power 4 school will release daily player injury and availability reports, marking a new era for business opportunities in the sport.

The Big 12 announced Wednesday it would start requiring football teams to submit those reports, following a similar move by the ACC last month. SEC schools began issuing availability reports last year, and the Big Ten has been doing so since 2023.

While the practice has long been standard in the NFL and other professional leagues, it’s relatively new in college sports—and could help create more revenue. 

No Power 4 conference has an official sports betting partner. Still, now that each one is publicly releasing player availability information, it could only be a matter of time before data companies come on board to start purchasing and distributing pertinent betting metrics to sportsbooks. 

“The gambling and sports wagering landscape has blown up in a way where you see it everywhere now, and it’s really expected,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told Front Office Sports last month.

In April, the NCAA announced an expanded deal with Genius Sports, a major player with professional leagues, to start allowing sportsbooks to purchase official data feeds from NCAA championships, including March Madness, and use official NCAA marks and logos. The Mid-American Conference (MAC) has a similar deal with Genius Sports.

Phillips said the ACC has explored its own conference-level betting deal “from a little bit of a distance,” but stressed it needs “to be diligent and thoughtful in any process there.” 

Moving forward, the new era of college sports opens the door for top betting brands like FanDuel and DraftKings to become the “official sportsbook” of the SEC or Big Ten—a move that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.