Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Audio By Carbonatix
Watching fans flood the basketball court or football field after a big win is always a sight to behold and one of those traditions that sets college sports apart from their professional counterparts. However, the SEC has spent years trying to crack down on the practice and is intensifying its efforts to make it a thing of the past.
Basketball fans rooting for The City College of New York are credited with being the first spectators to storm the court after a win when they invaded the playing surface at Madison Square Garden in the wake of the team’s national championship victory in 1950.
College football fans eventually got in on the action at an undetermined point in time, and that particular form of celebration is still going strong 75 years after it became A Thing.
However, it’s also attracted its fair share of detractors over the years due to safety concerns stemming from the invasion of thousands of people manifesting a textbook case of mob mentality, and the SEC has been at the forefront of efforts to make it a thing of the past.
It’s been more than two decades since the conference instituted fines designed to deter fans from rushing the court or field with a tiered system that dinged schools $100,000 for the first violation, $250,000 for the second, and $500,000 for every one thereafter (the payments go directly into the coffers of the learning institution they were playing against).
The approach has been somewhat effective but has not come close to eliminating the practice entirely, and there have been a number of incidents involving fans and players who’ve run into each other amid the chaos in the SEC and beyond.
According to ESPN, the conference has decided to kick things up a notch by abandoning the tiered system and instituting a flat fine of $500,000 for every violation moving forward, although it has carved out a loophole that allows schools to avoid punishment if the visiting team (and officials) are given the chance to head to the locker room before the storm commences.
Commissioner Greg Sankey offered a fairly soft explanation while explaining the motivation behind the pivot, saying:
“Field rushing is field rushing, the first time or the 18th time.
The random nature of, if you’re the one getting rushed, it doesn’t feel good. It might be the first time there, but it might be your sixth time in a row, literally.”
The SEC stopped short of adopting the harsh measure Alabama’s athletic director floated earlier this year when he suggested a retroactive forfeit would be a suitable punishment, and Ole Miss threatened to ban fans who stormed the court from sporting events after getting hit with a fine during the most recent basketball season.
I’m still of the opinion these fines are a bit of a half-measure that don’t do much to deter spectators who won’t be directly held financially responsible if they decide to get their storm on, but it does seem like the tides are slowly turning.