The University of Tennessee (UT) football team celebrated their impressive victory over Alabama on Saturday night in front of the victorious team’s supporters. Still, the school will now be required to pay a $100,000 fine after fans swarmed to the field at Neyland Stadium.
The sad irony is that the University of Tennessee literally paid off these goal posts last week
— Ollie (@olisamir) October 16, 2022
The winning game came down to a second left in the last quarter when Chase McGrath kicked a field goal bringing the score to a historical moment; 52-49, Tennessee took home their first win since 2006, WVLT reports.
Thousands of celebrating fans rushed to the stadium field, tearing down the goalpost, carrying it out of Neyland Stadium, and throwing it into the Tennessee River. Unfortunately, the celebration was met with a reprimanding amount for goalposts since UT broke the league’s access to competition area policy.
“Access to competition areas shall be limited to participating student-athletes, coaches, officials, support personnel, and properly-credentialed individuals at all times. For the safety of participants and spectators alike, at no time before, during, or after a contest shall spectators be permitted to enter the competition area. It is the responsibility of each member institution to implement procedures to ensure compliance with this policy,” the policy states.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) announced this is the second time that Tennessee has broken the policy, with the first event being after winning against Florida in 2006.
Following the game, a video posted on social media features a clip of UT’s System President Randy Boyd watching Tennessee fans taking down the goalposts while he was asked by the camera person how much “that” (goalpost removal) would cost and Boyd replied, “It doesn’t matter. We’ll do this every year.”
University of Tennessee president Randy Boyd smoking a victory cigar as the goal posts come down and laughing about it will cost to replace them is fantastic. pic.twitter.com/aXtizLaKxV
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 16, 2022
UT’s choice of celebration has led the school to ask Fans for financial help on Twitter on Sunday.
Y’all remember how we tore the goalposts down, hauled em out of Neyland and dumped em in the Tennessee River?
Yeah that was awesome.
Anywho, turns out that in order to play next week’s game, we need goalposts on our field. Could y’all help us out? 🙏 https://t.co/NSMoL3SzPX
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) October 16, 2022
“Y’all remember how we tore the goalposts down, hauled em out of Neyland, and dumped em in the Tennessee River? Yeah, that was awesome. Anywho, turns out that in order to play next week’s game, we need goalposts on our field. Could y’all help us out?,” Tennessee Football tweeted.
Holy shit this is the tackiest thing I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/DRXVbmtIPL
— UMDET3 (@DET2335) October 16, 2022
The university has posted a fundraising page to go toward purchasing new goalposts. UT has raised 98% of the $100,000 goal.
