Ridiculous 'Rushing' on Field, Court May Have Serious Price

SEC proposal could finally bring an end to all this storming out by fans

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Apr 25, 2023 12:33 PM EDT
Original:
Apr 24, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Some will say the punishments being considered by SEC for schools charging onto fields and courts may come to an end.

While some of the idiots who go running out onto a football field or basketball court after a big win actually thinks it's a great thing, it's not a really bright idea any time and shouldn't happen. The SEC had financial penalties, but that did no good.

Now the league has taken Greg Sankey's committee to study the whole thing and apparently has come up with some ideas to stop all the nonsense. Pro sports figured this out a long time ago. As usual, follow the money and you get answers.

Owners in the professional ranks usually also have a vested financial interest in the venue where the game is being played and they don't want a multi-million dollar lawsuit wanting compensation for one of these idiots (usually intoxicated) who do that.

The hope is university administrators become aware they don't have a big enough budget to handle a lot of folks getting themselves killed or permanently injured to realize the liability involved with this. Per earlier, follow the money and you usually get the answers to a lot of problems in sports and business.

A new policy to deal with fans rushing the field or court is expected to be presented to the league’s full roster of athletics directors soon for discussion. From there, options for a revamped policy are likely to be advanced to the conference’s presidents and chancellors at SEC spring meetings May 30-June 2 in Destin, Fla. Approved changes could be implemented for the 2023–24 athletic year.

Right now, it's only a graduated scale of payments of $50,000 to $250,000 each time it happens. That's tip change to these athletic budgets and probably a tax write-off somehow.

Now they are talking about pulling a home game from a team every year. I don't know the math on that, but say Arkansas beats Alabama in Fayetteville and the inevitable mass gathering of idiots running over each other to congratulate each other on the field is more costly. The Razorbacks would then have to go to Tuscaloosa three years in a row. That's some stiff payback to have 10 minutes of lunacy.

“The fact that field-rushing still happens means that the fine structure hasn't solved all of our problems,” Sankey said at the Associated Press Sports Editors southeast region meeting in Birmingham last Monday, according to the Tuscaloosa News. “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.”

Don't blame security, at least in Fayetteville. They were instructed in the win over Texas in 2021 in football and beating No. 1 Auburn in basketball to not try and stop any fans. They are not the right people to try and do that in the first place because they aren't trained or equipped to do that.

The league's study group has figured all this out. They are trying to get ahead of this whole thing before it becomes a serious matter, which is going to involve unspeakable tragedy. Kind of pointless.

“When you have a level of momentum around thousands and thousands of people, you have to be careful,” Sankey said last week. “There is some history in crowd management that suggests you be careful.”

Let's face it, there's something to be said about being glad about a win, but that was kinda the whole goal all along. Alabama or Georgia aren't going to storm a field after a win. Kentucky's not rushing the court after a men's basketball win.

The first time I ever personally witnessed it was a the Orange Bowl win over Oklahoma, but officials in Miami weren't going to let that get overboard. Besides, it was light rain falling most of the night, the field was muddy, the game was late and most folks were ready to get out.

When the fans at Razorback Stadium came running out near the end of a surprise 42-11 win over Texas in 1981, Hogs coach Lou Holtz sprinted where they were working on the goal post in the south end zone and asked them to cut it out. The game wasn't even over, yet.

At the Texas game in 2021, folks were talking about it all week long. When it actually happened, it was pretty interesting to look at from a distance. I wasn't getting anywhere near all that stuff since being a statistic has never sounded particularly appealing.

A lot of people think the proposed penalty is too harsh. Yet, those who argue that can't define a price to be paid for death or permanent injury. Since teams are more interested in public relations these days than answering that question, they are playing the odds. In this case, though, one loss may be too steep. Finding that answer out for certain is too stiff to consider, much less pay.