News Article: SEC increase fine to 500K for rushing the field

[Elefantman]

SEC bumps field/court storming fines to $500K

The SEC 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.

www.espn.com

Will it make a difference? I don't think so.

 

[Bama Lee]

Alabama doesn't rush the field.... So I don't really care about this!

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

SEC bumps field/court storming fines to $500K

The SEC 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.

www.espn.com

Will it make a difference? I don't think so.

I really think it will make a difference. That's five times more than previously.

100k wasn't really that much and obviously was not a deterrent...

 

[lowend]

Students don't care and this won't hurt the universities enough. Forfeits are the only thing that will hurt enough.

 

[M2J]

Will it make a difference? Maybe not, but they get more money and that's all that matters

 

[Crimson1967]

Randomly arrest a few of the invaders and give them a lifetime ban from the stadium and a big fine.

 

[Cruloc]

Drunk fans and students won't be thinking about the potential fine. In the excitement of their little moment, they'll rush the field anyway.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Bama winning all their games will stop 90% of it. Just saying.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I wonder if the conference has defined "storming the field." Some are obvious. Like the ones we see when we lose on the road.

Others, not so much. Suppose it's not the whole field, but only a hundred or so students. Suppose it's only a few drunks running around like headless chickens.

I agree that a $500K fine won't stop it. Which probably means stiffer penalties -- maybe moving what would have been a home game to the opponent's field -- which is not only a competitive disadvantage, but a huge monetary penalty for the school and the local economy. More severely, forfeiture of the game.

Regardless, as penalties become more severe, the exact definition of "storming the field," will get interesting.

 

[CB4]

The only thing that may come of this is greater methods by universities to curb the behavior. It will not impact fan behavior because they aren’t the ones reaching into their pockets. With a half a million on the line for the universities, it MIGHT force greater security efforts and stiffer punishments for those fans involved.

But it always goes back basics. In most cases it isn’t severity of the penalty that prevents bad behavior. It is usually the certainty of being “caught and face the consequences”. The biggest deterrent is certainty of being held responsible for your bad decisions.

When you start seeing arrest reports 100’s of names instead of a handful, then IMO some of this crap will stop.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

The only thing that may come of this is greater methods by universities to curb the behavior. It will not impact fan behavior because they aren’t the ones reaching into their pockets. With a half a million on the line for the universities, it MIGHT force greater security efforts and stiffer punishments for those fans involved.

But it always goes back the basics. In most cases it isn’t severity of the penalty that prevents bad behavior. It is usually the certainty of being “caught and face the consequences”. The biggest deterrent is certainty of being held responsible for your bad decisions.

When you start seeing arrest reports 100’s of names instead of a handful, then IMO some of this crap will stop.

Good point. Especially with facial recognition software, this could be more likely.....if the schools are willing to pursue it.

If they are, I could see stuff like: If you're a student and are identified as being on the field without authorization, your tickets are revoked for the rest of your time as a student. If you're not a student, you're banned from the stadium for a minimum of 5 years. Additionally, if you're a member of TidePride, you forfeit all your points.

 

[Elefantman]

A question for you lawyers out there. Is there any way the university can go after the violators with a civil suit? Put on the fine print of the ticket something like " you accept responsibility of any fines or damage resulting from your actions or anyone that you sell this ticket to.

Use video of the mob on the field, facial recognition to match with video of them entering the stadium as they scan their ticket. Know who bought the ticket and law suit is on its way.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I'm deadly curious....over the last 30 years, what percentage of SEC games that ended with fans storming the field involved Alabama being the losing team?

It's gotta be 75% or more.

 

[CB4]

Another thing: conferences need to have serious conversations with network executives about promoting the idea of field and court storming. Time and time again as you see crowds began to surge toward the field or court as the clock ticks down, they treat it like it is part of the “pageantry” of the college game. It isn’t. It is reckless, foolish and pointless. At some point visiting players are not going to maintain their composure and a brawl is going to happen.

And when it does happen, the guys in the booth are going to play dumb like “oh wow…we didn’t see this coming”.

As @4Q Basket Case stated we as Bama fans are probably more sensitive to it because it seems to happen to us with greater frequency. But because of that, it also means it puts our players and staff in higher risk circumstances. Stuff like player or staff retaliation that leads to suspensions and fines and/or ciivil/criminal litigation.

We aren’t hypersensitive fans. We are fans that recognize that the frequency at which this crap occurs when we are involved simply places our team, players, and coaches at even higher risk.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I'm not sure $500,000 is going to move the needle enough, but it should move it more than the $100,000 fine. I don't ever see the conference using anything other than monetary fines to deter rushing the field, so what's going to have to happen is the fine is going to keep having to increase until the schools are moved enough to take serious steps at stopping it.

 

[TDBama78]

For 500k schools could install a nice electric fence that would discourage even the most enthusiastic of football revelers.

 

[mdb-tpet]

This was discussed a while back in a similar thread, but I'm in favor of 5 year ban on the fan's rights to come into the game if arrested or found on the field for the first offense. The second offense removes all fans from the next 2 or 3 home games.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

I'm not sure $500,000 is going to move the needle enough, but it should move it more than the $100,000 fine. I don't ever see the conference using anything other than monetary fines to deter rushing the field, so what's going to have to happen is the fine is going to keep having to increase until the schools are moved enough to take serious steps at stopping it.

$500K should motivate a school to spend $50K on additional security...