SEC Announces $500K Fines for Schools Whose Fans Rush Courts, Fields After Wins

In an ongoing attempt to curtail fans from rushing the field or court after a marquee win, the SEC is increasing financial penalties that will be levied against schools.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey announced schools will be fined $500,000 every time fans rush the football field or basketball court.

"The motivation was 'field rushing is field rushing, the first time or the 18th time,'" Sankey said. "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."

This marks the second time in three years the SEC has changed its penalties for fan-storming.

In 2023, the conference announced a system that would discipline programs on an escalating system based on how many times a school would violate the rule. The fines started at $100,000 for the first offense, then $250,000 for the second and $500,000 for all violations thereafter.

There is some leeway for schools to avoid the fine if players and coaches from the opposing team, as well as game officials, can get to the locker room before fans descend on the field or court.

The biggest impetus for fining schools is to avoid situations where fans of the home team might get into some sort of altercation with players and coaches on the visiting team.

Alabama players got stuck in a mass of bodies on the field at Neyland Stadium following a 52-49 loss to Tennessee in October 2022. The situation resulted in Crimson Tide wide receiver Jermaine Burton making contact with a woman when she was trying to walk around him.

Vanderbilt received three fines during the 2024-25 academic year with one violation for football after its victory over Alabama and two more for men's basketball wins over Tennessee and Kentucky.