CHARLOTTE — The ACC will begin fining schools if their fans storm the field or court after football and basketball games this season before the opposing team and officials leave the field of play.
Schools will be fined $50,000 for a first offense, $100,000 for a second, and $200,000 for every instance thereafter. Offense counts will be tallied on a rolling basis over the most recent two seasons in football and basketball. Fine money will go to the ACC’s postgraduate scholarship fund.
“It’s time,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said Tuesday. “We’re seeing more and more of that happen. I’m seeing it more and more. We’re seeing it more and more in basketball. It seems to happen a lot to Duke and North Carolina. We have to protect those student-athletes across all of our 18 programs.”
The ACC joins the SEC in implementing a blanket fine process for violating field- and court-storming policies.
In May, the SEC raised its fines for field or court storming to $500,000 flat, doing away with its previous policy that increased the fine for multiple offenses. Similar to the ACC, schools won’t be fined if the opposing team and officials can leave the competition area safely. Last season, eight instances at SEC football games resulted in $1.6 million in fines.
The Big Ten and Big 12 don’t have public fining policies, but have each fined schools in the past for some instances.
Additionally, the ACC is now requiring schools to submit their event security plans to a third-party for an independent review.
