After road losses to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide was forced to leave a field filled with fans who spilled over the barricades to celebrate an upset. Alabama collected $400,000 from the Commodores, Volunteers and Sooners after each violated the SEC's "access to competition area."
According to an SEC policy set in 2023, financial penalties start at $100,000 for a first offense, $250,000 for a second and $500,000 for three or more offenses by a single team. Oklahoma owed Alabama $200,000 after its November upset with fans entering the field of play before game play officially ended.
But during basketball season, SEC teams found a way around those fines, taking a 90-second pause on court storming to allow for opposing teams and officials to exit before fans rushed the court and begun their celebration.
During SEC Spring Meetings, league commissioner Greg Sankey said basketball season was "a really good educational opportunity for us."
"If we can have that kind of education to let celebrations take place when a team is off the field, I think that would be a really healthy direction," Sankey said. "So we're working on continuing policy adjustments."
Sankey admitted that football field storms could be harder to police than basketball, which he still called not easy.
"I don't think any of it is easy," Sankey said. "It has to be done with intent."
Alabama has road games at Florida State, Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina and Auburn scheduled in 2025.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.