Stephen A. Smith blasts ACC for Florida State fine over storming field after win vs. Alabama

Florida State became the first victim of the ACC’s newly-imposed event security policy against field storming when the Seminoles were fined $50,000 for a first offense after fans stormed the playing field following Saturday’s 31-17 upset of No. 8 Alabama.

The ACC announced this new policy, which applied to football and both men’s and women’s basketball, at their league Media Days in July. A first offense results in a $50,000 fine, which doubles to $100,000 for a second offense and then again to $200,000 for a third offense or every subsequent violation afterwards, with those fines going into a scholarship fund to support ACC student-athletes.

And while this mirrors a similar longstanding policy put in place by the SEC more than a decade ago, it pails in comparison to the SEC’s current policy against field-storming, which now levies a $500,000 fine for each offense. Nevertheless, not everyone likes this trend.

“I’m disgusted, I don’t like it. And I know I’m in the minority, I know there’s plenty of my colleagues and contemporaries who disagree with me. I don’t give a damn. I don’t like it at all,” ESPN firebrand Stephen A. Smith said on Tuesday’s First Take. “67,000 people showed up to that game. What are these folks supposed to do? If the university doesn’t have enough security, what are you going to do, put 67,000 police officers out there. Who the hell can afford that? … I know it’s the first time in history this has happened with an ACC school, and they’re following the model of the SEC who gives a $100,000 fine for first-time offenses and then it’ll go up from there. But I just think that this is utterly ridiculous.”

In prior years, the SEC utilized a similar escalating scale for field storming punishments, with the first offense costing the home team $100,000. A second offense would result in a $250,000 fine, while all subsequent offenses would cost half a million dollars. Now, of course, every instance will result in a hefty $500,000 fine for the offending program.

The field-storming policies have been put in place as an added safety measure after multiple incidents involving overzealous fans interacting with opposing players or coaches during the postgame fracas.

“The conference’s event security policy is designed to protect the safety and well-being of all student-athletes, coaches, officials and fans,” the ACC’s release announcing the fine read Monday. “In accordance with ACC policy, Florida State will incur a fine of $50,000 for a first offense. All fines collected under the policy are directed to the Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship Fund, which benefits ACC student-athletes pursuing graduate education.”

When it comes to safety concerns for the opposing team, Smith suggested the leagues simply dedicate more resources to protecting them and worry less with policing — or fining — the universities.

“The fan experience comes – this is college – and students live to be able to do this one day. Of course you’ve got to be safe, of course you’ve got to prioritize safety for the players and the coaches,” Smith continued. “Well have enough police officers to surround them, because there’s nothing you can do if students decide to storm a field and they’re 67,000 strong – or more – there’s not enough police and law enforcement officials in the world to stop that, and the students certainly are not going to do that.

“So fining the schools, to me, is just ridiculous. I don’t understand it at all. I don’t like it. Just surround the players and the coaches, and protect them with law enforcement to escort them to the locker room, and let the kids be on the field to celebrate.”