Arkansas football to allow field rushing, but only after 3-minute delay to avoid $500,000 fines

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas will allow football fans to rush the field following big wins, but only after a delay so the Razorbacks can avoid hefty fines.

The Southeastern Conference’s updated field rushing policy, with $500,000 fines, applies to each incident across all sports. The conference can waive the fine if the visiting team and officials are allowed to reach the locker room before fans descend. Arkansas announced Wednesday that three minutes will be placed on the videoboards inside the stadium to delay the rush and allow the visiting team, staff and officials to exit the field.

“The safety of our student-athletes and the student-athletes from the visiting institution is extremely important to all of us,” Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said in a statement. “By implementing this new policy, we are allowing the visiting team to clear the field so our fans can safely join our team on the field to celebrate the big win. We look forward to our fans and students complying with this policy the first time we get to implement it so we can all enjoy a huge win.”

Arkansas' first big game will be Sept. 27 against No. 6 Notre Dame.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football