Vanderbilt, Arkansas Face Six-Figure Fines After Huge Upsets

Vanderbilt and Arkansas came away with magical victories Saturday, but the schools will pay a hefty sum for their fans’ post-game celebrations.

On Saturday, the Commodores won 40–35 over top-ranked Alabama and the Razorbacks rallied to win 19–14 over No. 4 Tennessee—leading to both teams’ fans storming the field and taking down goalposts in the process.

The SEC policy on storming the field, which was updated in June 2023, indicates Vanderbilt will be fined $100,000 for the incident at FirstBank Stadium, while Arkansas will face a $250,000 fine as a repeat offender.

A third offense would result in a $500,000 penalty under the new rules.

Under the old rules, the Commodores would have actually been fined $250,000—which was the price for a third offense—as its fans violated the rule in 2022 and early 2023. However, when the SEC unveiled its new rules, it instituted a clean slate for every school.

Worth the Fine

A $100,000 penalty doesn’t hit the same across SEC schools. If Alabama were fined, it would just be a drop in a bucket since the school spent over $80 million on its football program last season. But it may sting for Vanderbilt, which had the conference’s lowest revenue figure last year.

Then again, a win like this doesn’t come often.

The Commodores were 23.5-point underdogs entering Saturday’s game. The win marked the school’s first victory over a top-five team.

At Arkansas, the top brass have already expressed the school’s openness to paying the fine for their students’ celebration. 

“I think the AD’s gonna be mad. Maybe he won’t be. But right now I don’t care,” Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman told ESPN after the game.

When asked by CBS Sports whether his team would be happy to pay the fine, AD Hunter Yuracheck responded, “Hell yeah!”