The tearing down of the Neyland Stadium goalposts after Tennessee stunned Alabama in Knoxville was one of the most memorable moments of the 2022 college football season. The SEC wants to make sure it never happens again.
Sports Illustrated reported the SEC is looking to amp up penalties for field- and court-stormings in the conference, devising punishments that range from losing future SEC home games to forfeiting a win that prompted the storming in the first place.
Previously, the conference — like most conferences — simply fines programs for stormings, with figures that increase with each incident.
"The fact that field-rushing still happens means that the fine structure hasn't solved all of our problems," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said recently, according to the Tuscaloosa News. "We've got an event security working group still looking at ideas. I've asked our staff to go back and look at even more ideas. I would expect some level of updates as we go into the year ahead, one of which is a higher expectation for security around the visiting team when those field incursions take place."
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Pat Forde reported that after Tennessee fans stormed the field and tore down the goalposts, the SEC installed a group to discuss potential safety measures regarding fans running onto SEC fields or basketball courts. One of the measures mentioned was that a program could lose a future football SEC home game against that same opponent due to field rushing — meaning Tennessee could have lost its next home game against Alabama. The other, forfeiting the game for which the infraction took place, "is unlikely to gain much traction," Forde reported.
The only thing Forde reported for certain is that the committee and conference agree "something more needs to be done."
"The only way to stop fans is to stop them from even considering it," an SEC athletic director said, according to Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel. "We don't have enough police or security to prevent it once they get moving."
The current system has not exactly disincentivized the fans from running out onto the field or basketball courts after big wins. The first violation for schools is a $50,000 fine, the second is $100,000 and any after that cost $250,000. Tennessee's infraction was only its second, and Tennessee President Randy Boyd made it clear in the moment how much that would impact the Volunteers.
"It doesn't matter. We'll do this every year," Boyd said.
UT President Randy Boyd regarding the goal posts pic.twitter.com/Wd4JVx4BvS
— Hanes Torbett (@Tarheelbb) October 16, 2022
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Of course, Tennessee — whose football program reportedly has a net profit of $53 million — later requested some help and asked for the fans to help pay for the $15,150 goal posts, though it was clear by the $150,000 goal the Volunteers might have also been looking for some help with that $100,000 fine. They wound up receiving more than $160,000.
As SI pointed out, however, there are reasons to try and put more pressure on fans to not be encouraged to storm the field. Forde pointed out Alabama wide receiver Jermaine Burton was seen striking a fan after the game during the storm and an Alabama staff member needed help to reach the locker room during a storming at LSU. There have also been injuries from field stormings in Wisconsin that included 73 injuries back in 1993, including six that were reported to be critical.
The measures might not fix everything, but if fans have to think about more impactful punishments for the team instead of just fines to already lucrative programs, it could help reduce the near-bi-weekly field stormings during the conference schedule.
