CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WNCN) — Storming the field or court after an upset or rivalry win will now cost Atlantic Coast Conference schools a chunk of money.
On Tuesday in his opening remarks at the 2025 ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, league commissioner Jim Phillips announced fines would be levied against any schools whose fan bases streamed onto a football field or a men’s or women’s basketball court following a game.
“Our conference has elevated its expectations around court and field safety,” said Phillips, adding that schools will now have their security plans reviewed by independent third parties. “The plan may allow spectators to access the competition area following a contest, but only after the visiting team and officials have safely exited the area … In addition to these elevated expectations, there is a corresponding fine structure in place should a school have a breach in this new policy.”
The price of a first offense will be $50,000, Phillips said, with a second incident resulting in a $100,000 fine and a third costing member schools $200,000. The timeline for number of offenses will reset every two years. Money accrued from the fines will go to the ACC’s postgrad scholarship fund.
The announcement of fines comes nearly a year and a half after then-Duke star Kyle Filipowski was shaken up after Wake Forest fans stormed the court at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum following the Demon Deacons’ upset win over the Blue Devils on Feb. 24, 2024. That incident prompted an investigation by the ACC and resulted in Duke head coach Jon Scheyer publicly questioning when the practice would be banned.
Celebration-related fines aren’t the only new policy the ACC is implementing this year.
Phillips also announced that member schools will now be required to provide player availability reports for football, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball two days ahead of each league game followed by updates one day prior to each contest as well as the day of. All reports will be available on the ACC’s website.
“This decision is directly connected to our ongoing commitment to best protect our student-athletes and our multi-faceted approach to addressing the effects of sports wagering,” Phillips said. “In this case, it will alleviate pressure from entities or individuals who are involved in sports wagering that attempt to obtain inside information about availability from players, coaches and other staff.”
The ACC’s move on publicly announcing which players are injured and which will be playing follows that of the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten, who are also implementing similar policies but with different timelines. The SEC is mandating injury reports be made three days in advance, while the Big Ten is requiring they be made just two hours before the start of a game.
The ultimate goal of both these policies, according to Phillips, is to ensure the well-being of players.
“Safety has always been taken seriously by this league, and I applaud our schools for further enhancing and formalizing these important measures,” Phillips said.