ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips announced on Tuesday that the conference is adopting a new policy requiring teams to release official player availability reports ahead of every league football game. The move, which will see injury updates published two days before, one day before, and on game day, is a direct response to the growing concerns around sports wagering and student-athlete safety.
“The ACC will implement a player availability reporting policy for each conference game,” Phillips said. “In football, an institution will submit an availability report two days before each league game with updates one day before and on game day. All submitted reports will be publicly available on theACC.com.”
Phillips emphasized that the primary motivation is to “best protect our student-athletes” and to curb the influence of outside parties seeking inside information. “This decision is directly connected to our ongoing commitment to best protect our student-athletes and our multi-faceted approach to addressing the effects of sports wagering,” he said. “In this case, it would alleviate pressure from entities or individuals who are involved in sports wagering that attempt to obtain inside information about availability from players, coaches, and other staff.”
The ACC’s approach formalizes a process many coaches and administrators have discussed as sports betting’s influence continues to rise. Phillips praised the conference’s schools for supporting the change. “Safety has always been taken seriously by this league, and I applaud our schools for further enhancing and formalizing these important measures.”
The new policy will debut this fall, with injury and availability information posted on the league’s official website, aiming to bring more transparency and integrity to ACC football.
