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Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne became an expert on field storms after the Crimson Tide’s 2024 football season.
Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma each stormed the field in celebration after Alabama lost to the Commodores, Volunteers and Sooners on the road, amounting to $400,000 in damages from the respective schools.
But in an interview with ESPN, Byrne continued to push that money is not enough to stop field and court storming.
“I don’t think from a financial penalty standpoint you can really put anything into place that would curtail it,” Byrne said. “I think it has to be other steps, other actions.”
As the rule stands, the SEC fines schools $100,000 for the first incident, $250,000 for the second and $500,000 for the third and each one after. Oklahoma was charged $100,000 twice when fans stormed the field after it beat Alabama in 2024 —$100,000 for the field storm itself and another $100,000 for rushing the field before time expired.
Byrne said he believes that if a field or court is stormed, causing the home team to “lose that game right then and there,” that would halt the issue. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey called forfeits a “tough proposition,” but that “there’s more than Greg in this league who feel that way.”
It’s not something Byrne is confident will be adopted, though.
“It’s hard to think you can have enough security to hold back thousands of people that want to get on the field,” Byrne said. “You can have a show of force of it, but at the end of the day, when those folks come and get on the field, it’s hard to push ’em back. That’s why you have to, I believe, stop the original motion of getting them to go to the field.
“People say it’s just a celebration. It is a celebration, but it’s not a safe one.”
Alabama opens the 2025 football season at Florida State Aug. 30. The Crimson Tide will also have road…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/alabama-ad-greg-byrne-stop-235705001.html
Author : The Tuscaloosa News
Publish date : 2025-02-12 23:57:00
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