SEC commissioner says all field/court stormings will now cost home team $500,000

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sec-considering-bigger-punishments-for-storming-the-field-court — Photo by Dr. Michael Huang | Kentucky Sports Radio

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey isn’t a big believer in fun.

To close out the conference’s annual Spring Meetings in Destin, FL, on Thursday, Sankey took a strong stance on court and field stormings: if fans of the home team rush the court or the field following the conclusion of a game, the fine will be $500,000 for every time it happens. The State reporter Jordan Kaye was on location to break the news, and SEC fans have not been too enthused with his decision ever since.

In previous years, rushing the court or field was an escalating fine, beginning at $100,000 on the first offense, $250,000 for the second offense, and then $500,000 for the third and subsequent offenses. But now, the home university will be charged a half-million-dollar fine in any event where their team pulls off an upset deemed worthy of charging the area of play.

All that being said, Sankey has stated that, as long as the visiting team and officials have exited the area of play prior to fans rushing the field or court, no fine will be handed out. But trying to keep thousands upon thousands of hyped-up fans from immediately coming down from the stands has proven to be a losing battle thus far.

Perhaps more serious fines will change that — we shall see.

NEW: Greg Sankey says the SEC will no longer use an escalating scale for field and court storming fines.

Stormings will now cost the home team $500,000.

(h/t @jordankaye_23) https://t.co/qa9iSDQUIY pic.twitter.com/YCH2JoPH3G
— On3 (@On3sports) May 29, 2025

All money collected from these fines will go to the opposing school, a rule that was installed last season.

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For instance (and forgive me for bringing it up), Kentucky men’s basketball lost in Nashville to Vanderbilt in January during the 2024-25 season, which resulted in Commodore fans flooding the court in celebration of a top 10 victory. Since Vanderbilt was already tagged with two fines for beating Alabama in football and Tennessee in basketball, the basketball team’s win over the ‘Cats was the third offense, putting an extra $500,000 in UK’s pocket.

But now, every instance of court or field storming will automatically trigger the $500,000 penalty. In the event a court or field storming by an SEC school comes against a non-conference opponent, that money will go to the SEC scholarship fund.