NCAA Announces March Madness 2026 Will Feature Team Injury Reports After Rule Change

The NCAA announced Thursday that it will implement player availability reports during the 2026 men's and women's tournaments.

"After months of thorough discussion and exploration, I applaud the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Committees for taking such important action," NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement. "Implementing player availability reporting is a major step to increasing student-athlete protections by alleviating pressures for the enhancement of their college experience."

The NCAA said in its statement that the reports will be "made publicly available" and "teams must submit initial reports to the NCAA the night before competition and again two hours before game time to ensure accuracy."

Players will be "assumed to be available unless designated as questionable or out," and failure to properly report injuries could result in penalties for the school.

The goal of the new rules is "protecting student-athletes' well-being and competition integrity from sports betting influences and continues to analyze the current landscape to devise effective initiatives to increase protections," with the hope that sanctioned injury reports will help to "reduce the betting-related pressure, solicitations and harassment student-athletes receive connected to their playing status."

With sports betting now legal in the majority of states and professional leagues entering into lucrative deals with major gambling companies, the potential pitfalls of athletes, coaches and referees betting on games—or affecting outcomes for betting purposes—has once again become a major concern and storyline.

The NBA is also considering making changes to its injury-reporting processes in light of the federal indictments of Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones.