BY EDDIE PELLS
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference is ratcheting up penalties on schools whose fans storm the field or rush the court, doing away with an escalating fine system and now charging $500,000 per incident.
“The motivation was ‘field rushing is field rushing, the first time or the 18th time,’” commissioner Greg Sankey said Thursday in announcing the decision. “The random nature of, if you’re the one getting rushed, it doesn’t feel good. It might be the first time (it happened) there, but it might be your sixth time in a row, literally.”
The conference also has the authority to wave the fine if the visiting team and officials are allowed to get to the locker room before fans descend.
The new policy replaces an old one that called for an escalating fine structure that started with $100,000 for the first offense, raised to $250,000 for the second then hit $500,000 for the third and subsequent incidents.
The SEC first instituted a fine structure for field storming in 2004, but it didn’t stop the problem.
In 2022, Tennessee fans stormed the field after ending a 15-game losing streak to Alabama. But things became congested and some of the Crimson Tide players were trapped; a video surfaced of a Tide player thrusting his arm toward a woman’s head as he tried to get off the field.
Last year, Vanderbilt beat Alabama at home, triggering fans to rush the field, tear down the goalposts and parade them to the Cumberland River. The Commodores were fined $100,000 and, per SEC policy, that money went to Alabama, which also received $100,000 for an incident after a loss at Tennessee last season.
Vanderbilt got fined twice more last basketball season, the last of which cost $500,000.
“We try to set some expectations to the fan base of ‘We’ll welcome your celebration, but let’s let the team from the visiting institution and the officials depart,’” Sankey said.
