ACC's New Ruling Hurts the Passion for College Sports

This week, the ACC is hosting their annual football media day in Charlotte, NC. In this event, each school brings representatives to speak with the media, including the head coach a a handful of key players to their program. On occasion, other members will show up, such as general managers.

Many fans and media anticipated hearing big news from players and coaches, referring to the upcoming season. However, one of the biggest headlines is the ACC’s new ruling on storming the playing surfaces.

From Si.com: "If fans storm the field or the court, the school will be in breach of the conference's event security policy, and will be subject to fines. The fines will increase for each occurrence over a rolling two-year period before resetting.

"In addition, occurrences accumulate by school rather by sport. So if fans storm the field after a football game in September and then storm the basketball court in November, the court storm will be considered a second offense against the policy."

One of college sports’ most iconic celebrations is when the fans rush the field after a big win over a rival. Many memorable games and moments result in an act by fans where they rush the field to celebrate with players, coaches, fans, and the overall community that the university has built.

Originally, the cause took notice when Duke basketball star Kyle Filipowski was hobbled by a fan in a court storming following a game against Wake Forest last season.

The ACC made sure that the policy is no joke. After one storming of the court or field, the host school will be fined $50,000. A second offense will result in a $100,000 fine for the hosts. After that, schools will be fined $200,000 for each time fans rush the field. As noted previously, these offenses are held over the span of two years, across sports.

Many schools will be okay paying the fine, but that does not take away from how polarizing of a rule this is.

The reason fans enjoy college sports is due to its uniqueness. The tradition, culture, and community truly make it so different from other sports and professional leagues. And one of the best ways to showcase that is to rush the field after an iconic victory, solidifying the win.

Yes, player safety is very important, and should be taken seriously, but I'm not sure this is the policy to do so. Filipowski's injury was obviously an issue, but it thankfully wasn't a serious injury, and didn't hold him out for any games.

There have been thousands on thousands of storming instances, and just one time a player got a minor injury. Is that truly enough to take away the tradition?

This has the ability to take the heart and passion out of the sports we all love. If fans can’t express themselves by rushing the field, college sports could be missing some of what makes it unique.