Vanderbilt Commodores forward Jaylen Carey (22) celebrates with fans after beating the Kentucky Wildcats 74-69 at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Will SEC’s fine increase for field storming actually stop fans?

Originally posted on Mississippi State Bulldogs on SI
By Taylor Hodges | Last updated May 30, 2025 12:00 PM ET

Apparently, the SEC home office didn’t take too kindly to certain schools (looking at you Vanderbilt) allowing its fans to storm a field or court multiple times and paying the fine like it was no big deal.

The SEC is trying to make the fines a bigger deal than a slap on the wrist by eliminating the first and second offense benchmarks and increasing the fine to $500,000 for each violation.

Vanderbilt was the biggest offender last season. Fans stormed the field after beating No. 1 Alabama in the football season and then twice more in basketball season with wins against No. 6 Tennessee and No. 9 Kentucky (within a week of each other). That cost Vanderbilt $850,000.

Vanderbilt wasn’t the only offender. Oklahoma fans stormed the field after Alabama. Arkansas fans stormed the field after beating Tennessee. Ole Miss fans, for some reason, stormed the field after beating Georgia.

Will the SEC’s increase of the fine stop fans from storming fields and courts? Probably not. The only way to truly stop fans is to have guards lined around the entire field. (Some people might say armed guards, but let’s be real. Nobody is shooting anyone for running onto a playing surface.)

Is it a safety issue? Absolutely. When Arkansas fans stormed the field, a Tennessee player knocked over an Arkansas fan. It wouldn’t have taken much for that incident to turn into a full blown riot.

Think about concerts and some of the stories of people falling and being trampled on, sometimes fatally. That’s the safety concern.

But excited fans, especially college students, are too concerned about safety. They’re excited. They want to celebrate and shows like SportsCenter have made field and court storming famous and cool. Afterall, it is a cool visual to see.

And a fine isn’t going to change that.

Is there a solution where we can ensure the safety of players, coaches and other game officials while also letting fans partake in a fun college sports tradition? Leave it to the smart school to come up with a solution.

Vanderbilt instituted a new rule after shelling out nearly $1 million in fines. For home basketball games, fans would not be permitted to go on the court until 60 seconds after the final buzzer.

That gives everyone time to leave the court and also cools off some of the passion the fans might have, which reduces the risk of injury.

This is a rule every school can implement and can also be used for football games, too.

Will that actually happen? Probably not.