Alabama’s AD suggests loss of home game to curtail storming the field

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Alabama’s AD has ideas to curb SEC field storming, says ‘fines don’t work’

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Alabama AD Greg Byrne is helping lead that conversation to strengthen league penalties last updated at the SEC spring meetings in 2015. Originally passed in 2004, the fines were increased eight years ago that starts at $50,000 for a first offense, $100,000 for the second and $250,000 for each that followed.

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“Fines don’t work,” Byrne said Wednesday. “Nobody is sitting in the stands saying ‘Well I’m not going on the field today because the university is going to get fined $250,000.’ Fans don’t care. I get it. But there has to be steps that are taken. Until you go through it yourself, and I have been on the field for a few stormings and it’s not fun. It’s dangerous. We’ve had some very scary situations that could have escalated even further.”

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Tennessee famously solicited donations (tongue in cheek) to pay the $100,000 SEC fine and replace the goalposts after ending its losing streak to Alabama last year.

There was also an incident where Alabama receiver Jermaine Burton appeared to strike a Tennessee student as he worked through the sea of revelers en route to the Tide locker room.

And three weeks later, LSU fans celebrating a win over the Tide accosted Evan Van Nostrand, Alabama’s assistant director of player development as he attempted to leave the field.

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Tennessee coach Josh Heupel was obviously on the better end of the celebration Oct. 15 in Knoxville. He had a perspective on the matter Wednesday.

“I think the dialogue around keeping fans and players and staff safe is a real one,” he said. “I think we have to navigate that space. I think there’s a two-edged sword on that side of it.

“If you try to stop everybody from storming the field there’s a safety issue there too. So how do we keep everybody safe before the game, during the game and after the game … certainly the pageantry and passion that is college football is what makes it college football. It’s a unique endeavor and the greatest sport in my opinion. So navigating that space the right way is important.”

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There’s been some discussion about, do you lose a home game?” Byrne said. “I don’t know how much support that has. Is there a way to do some more fines in a little more creative way? Some of those things are being discussed right now that maybe would get everybody’s attention. I think there’s better education we could do.”

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“It’s interesting,” he said, “if one fan runs onto the field in the third quarter, you know what happens? They get tackled and arrested. A bunch of the fans rush the field after the fourth quarter, we don’t do that.

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