SEC Takes Action for Fans Rushing the Court

The SEC did the right thing in fining the University of Tennessee as a penalty for its fans rushing the court after the upset win over Florida. The only problem -- $5,000 is not much of a fine. On the other hand, UT will likely take measures to prevent students from rushing the court again -- a second offense is $25,000, and a third will cost them $50,000. That will get a university's attention. (CNN/SI). The penalties are the result of a conference rule that went into effect in December 2004.

Andy Katz wondered if any other leagues have similar penalties and found only one -- the Big Ten imposes a fine of $10,000, but only after the third offense.

I have written about the dangers of students rushing the court on many occasions (column, post, post, post). And last fall, a student in Minnesota was killed by a falling goalpost when students stormed the field after a football game (10/27/05). How many serious injuries or deaths should it take for colleges to do what pro teams have done for decades -- keep fans off the field/court? Let's hope the other conferences follow the lead of the SEC before more injuries are caused by this preventable practice.

UPDATE: Skip at The Sports Economist has more on the economics of crowd control.

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