Alabama football fans took the majority of the seats in Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium on Saturday. Still, when the game ended as a 40-35 Commodore upset, the few sections of VU fans made themselves known.
Vanderbilt fans spilled onto the field while Nick Saban audio clips and David Guetta music filled the air. In the end, it cost the Commodores $100,000, to be paid to UA, an amount at least partially funded by selling the FirstBank Stadium goalposts after a crew fished them out of the Cumberland River, more than two miles away.
A few hours later, 527 miles west of FirstBank Stadium, Arkansas fans filled the field at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks’ win over Tennessee would end up costing the school $250,000 for its second offense under the SEC’s 2023 field rush fine structure.
With their fines from Saturday, Vanderbilt and Arkansas are now tied for the most money paid out for SEC field and court-storming fines since the league implemented them in 2004. Both programs have paid out $730,000, just ahead of third-place LSU, which has spent $705,000.
Five schools have never paid out a fine to the SEC for field or court storming, including Alabama. It should be noted that Texas and Oklahoma have never paid an SEC fine for the practice, having joined the league in 2024, but the Longhorns did pay $25,000 in a Big 12 penalty after its men’s basketball team beat Kansas in 2022.
When Vanderbilt fans rushed the field Saturday, Alabama’s football team took sole possession of first place for one dubious record. No program in the SEC has seen the field or court stormed against it more by league teams since the fines were implemented.
Alabama football has been on the losing end of a field storming eight times since 2004, breaking a tie with Kentucky men’s basketball. Ironically, UK is also one of three schools tied for the most fines since 2004.
UK held the record at six fines until Saturday, when both Vanderbilt and Arkansas also hit that mark. LSU and Arkansas currently stand at five each, while Auburn and Ole Miss have paid out four fines.
The SEC implemented the fines in 2004, and has raised the fine amounts twice. Currently, schools are penalized $100,000 for a first offense, $250,000 for a second, and $500,000 for any subsequent rushes.
Under the original structure, and the 2015 update, the fines went to the SEC’s post-graduate scholarship fund. Now, most of them go to the school that lost the game to prompt the storming, though if a school incurs fine against a non-conference opponent, like Arkansas did following a men’s basketball win over Duke in November, it will still go to the post-graduate scholarship fund.
SEC field entry fines by school
Arkansas
Feb, 18, 2006, men’s basketball (Florida), $5,000
Nov. 15, 2014, football (LSU), $25,000
Sept. 11, 2021, FB (Texas), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)
Feb. 8, 2022, MBB (Auburn), $250,000
Nov. 29, 2023, MBB (Duke), $100,000 (2023 fine structure)
Oct. 5, 2024, FB (Tennessee), $250,000
Auburn
Nov. 30, 2013, FB (Alabama), $5,000
Jan. 16, 2016, MBB (Kentucky), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)
Nov, 25, 2017, FB (Alabama), $250,000
Nov. 30, 2019, FB (Alabama), $250,000
Florida
Feb. 19, 2022, MBB (Auburn), $50,000 (2015 fine structure)
Kentucky
Nov. 4, 2006, FB (Georgia), $5,000
Sept. 15, 2007, FB (Louisville), $25,000
Oct. 13, 2007, FB (LSU), $50,000
Oct. 4, 2014, FB (South Carolina), $25,000
Sept. 22, 2018, FB (Mississippi State), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)
Oct. 2, 2021, FB (Florida), $250,000
LSU
Oct. 25, 2014, FB (Ole Miss), $5,000
Oct. 13, 2018, FB (Georgia), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)
Oct. 22, 2022, FB (Ole Miss), $250,000
Nov. 3, 2022, FB (Alabama), $250,000
Feb. 21, 2024, MBB (Kentucky) $100,000 (2023 fine structure)
Ole Miss
Nov. 24, 2012, FB (MSU), $5,000
Oct. 19, 2013, FB (LSU), $25,000
Oct. 4, 2014, FB (Alabama), $50,000
Sept. 30, 2023, FB (LSU), $100,000 (2023 fine structure)
Missouri
Nov. 20, 2013, FB (Texas A&M), $5,000
Nov. 28, 2014, FB (Arkansas), $25,000
Sept. 16, 2023, FB (Kansas State), $100,000 (2023 fine structure)
South Carolina
Feb. 15, 2005, MBB (Kentucky), $5,000
Jan. 26, 2010, MBB (Kentucky), $25,000
March 1, 2014, MBB (Kentucky), $25,000
Nov. 19, 2022, FB (Tennessee), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)
Jan. 23, 2024, MBB (Kentucky( $100,000 (2023 fine structure)
Tennessee
Jan. 21, 2006, MBB (Florida), $5,000
Oct. 15, 2022, FB (Alabama), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)
Texas A&M
Nov. 24, 2018, FB (LSU), $50,000 (2015 fine structure)
Oct. 9, 2021, FB (Alabama), $100,000
Nov. 26, 2022, FB (LSU), $250,000
Vanderbilt
March 21, 2005, MBB (Wichita State), $5,000
Feb. 17, 2007, MBB (Florida), $25,000
Feb. 26, 2016, MBB (Kentucky), $100,000 (2015 fine structure)
Nov. 19, 2022, FB (Florida), $250,000
Feb. 8, 2023, MBB (Tennessee), $250,000
Oct. 5, 2024 FB (Alabama) $100,000 (2023 fine structure)
