Big 12 teams will now face field-storming fines
Don't rush the field after your Big 12 school wins a big game unless you want your school to get a fine.
The conference said Wednesday it's added penalties for schools whose fans storm the playing surface after games. While it's been a fairly-regular occurrence in football, the incident that has gotten the most noteriety was in basketball.
Kansas State beat Kansas at home in February and the crush of K-State fans trapped Kansas coach Bill Self against the scorer's table. Self also said multiple Kansas players were "hit" by KSU fans. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby reprimanded the Wildcats after the incident.
"I don't know that there's anything off the table in dealing with those issues," Bowlsby said about penalties for field-storming via the AP. "I think I've been given broad prerogatives to deal with those issues."
The loss of future home games was even brought up as a potential penalty, though we're not so sure that would happen. It's not entirely out of the question, of course, but we can't see the conference moving to take away a home game except in the case of a storming incident that leads to injuries (and there should never, ever be a field-storming that causes bodily harm).
However, we're also not sure the threat of a fine will be enough to deter fans from rushing the field, at least until a team is penalized under Bowlsby's broad prerogatives. The SEC has been fining schools for field-storming incidents since 2004 and its fans haven't been deterred from rushing the field.
The SEC has said that it also plans to raise those fines this offseason. Currently, teams are fined $5,000 for the first violation, $25,000 for the second violation and $50,000 for every other violation.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!