Alabama AD Greg Byrne Offers His Solution to Court Storming

The University of Alabama's football program was on the wrong side of field storming three times in Nick Saban's final three seasons.

The Duke Blue Devil basketball program was in the headlines over the weekend after losing in upset fashion to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. The Demon Deacons four-point win on Saturday inspired the home crowd to leave the stands and celebrate by storming the floor. 

While court-storming is not inherently unusual, it's the second high-profile scenario that's resulted in injury for the losing team this season. 

Kyle Flipowski was not seriously injured, but was knocked down and rolled his ankle in the madness on Saturday. Iowa's Caitlin Clark was similarly knocked down when her Hawkeyes fell on the road 100-92 to Ohio State a month ago. 

Rushing the field or court in the wake of a massive victory is without a doubt euphoric,  but it also creates a heightened sense of danger and opens the door for unseemly behavior. 

College conferences have been struggling for years to come up with a solution to the storming, but nothing has seemed to work. The Southeastern Conference changed its punishment structure in 2023 forcing the storming school to pay fines of $100,000 for the first violation, a second $250,000 and subsequent violations $500,000 each. The fines are now paid directly to the visiting school.

Clearly the fines aren't effective as the issue continues to persist. While the Alabama basketball team hasn't been involved in a court storming, the Crimson Tide football program is all too familiar with it. The field has been rushed in losses to Texas A&M, Tennessee and LSU over the last three seasons. 

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne offered his solution on Monday before a meeting with the Birmingham Tip-off Club. Byrne suggests the storming team end up forfeiting the historic win they just earned.

“You have two kids run out there, no, but when you have a sustained rush like what just happened the other day at Wake, you lose the game,” Byrne said. “That will get people to stop.”

Fans don't often consider the fine they create for the school when they rush the floor because it's not a bill they actually have to foot themselves. 

“Kids aren’t going to be in the stands saying “Oh, I don’t want to do this because the school is gonna get fined $200,000,” Byrne said. “That doesn’t enter their mindset. But if they knew the game that they just had been a part of, celebrated a great win that led to that, if they knew that they were going to lose that game immediately, that would stop them.”

ESPN's Jay Bilas suggested that all court and field stormers should be detained on the playing surface and arrested and fined individually from that point. 

On the Monday edition of "The Joe Gaither Show on BamaCentral" our host offers a different solution. 

What is your solution to court and field storming? Leave it in the comments below!

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