Subscribe
Follow Us
The SEC is working to find a solution to stop field and court storming. When a big team gets upset in college football or basketball, students love to rush the playing surface to celebrate. It's happened for a long time, it comes with a hefty price. Schools that let a court/field storm happen have had to pay a big fine, and it goes up for multiple offenses. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne has a potential solution, but it's a bit extreme.
Alabama is always one of the top teams in the country in football, and the same is true for their basketball team right now as well. When they lose on the road, fans storm the playing surface pretty often. To stop this from happening, Greg Byrne suggested that teams should have to forfeit a game if their fans partake in a storming.
“I think from a safety standpoint, keeping people off the fields and courts is a good thing for everybody involved,” Byrne said, according to an article from ESPN. “If we said that the home team, if they storm the field or the court, they’re going to lose the game right then and there, that will stop it.”
Byrne is right; that will stop it from happening. However, it is incredibly unlikely that a team's win would ever be taken away because of something done by the fans after the final whistle.
“I’m not overly optimistic and understand it’s not a popular opinion in a lot of people’s view,” Byrne said. “I’ll get criticized for it, and that’s okay. I do believe in it. If somebody can come up with something that’s a better idea that does not include that, I’m all for it. I’m not saying that’s the only possible way. I’m convinced, in my own simple mind, that that would be something that would stop it.”
Byrne was right about one thing. He is getting criticized about it. Court/field storming does present safety concerns that should be addressed, but suggesting that a team should have to automatically lose a game because of it is not how it gets fixed.
“Let’s celebrate up in the stands,” Byrne said. “Let’s have a great environment. I’d even be fine if you say, let’s give it three minutes to get the team off the field. Then, if they want to come down and celebrate, great.”
The biggest issue with it is player safety. We have seen instances of fans getting tangled up with opposing players in emotional moments after a loss, and it isn't pretty. That needs to be address. Forfeits won't be the way to solve this.
