During a football match between the University of Colorado Boulder and Brigham Young University on September 27, Buffs fans went beyond poor sportsmanship after the BYU Cougars clinched a decisive victory. Chants rained down on the Cougars with harsh, vehement language: “F— BYU” and “F— the Mormons.” Now, after a hearing held by the Big 12 Conference, the NCAA is fining CU $50,000.
“Hateful and discriminatory language has no home in the Big 12 Conference. While we appreciate Colorado apologizing for the chants that occurred in the stands during Saturday’s game, the Big 12 maintains zero tolerance for such behavior,” said Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark in a statement.
BYU is well-known for its large devout Mormon population. The school gives admission preference to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and openly touts LDS values in their educational settings. This has made it easy for many to think of the church and the school as one and the same, and backlash against the school has turned to backlash against the faithful before.
In 2022, the exact same chants were echoed among the crowd when the University of Oregon Ducks hosted the BYU Cougars. Then-governor of Utah Spencer Cox csaid “Religious bigotry alive and celebrated in Oregon” on Twitter, and both the University of Oregon and Oregon’s governor issued apologies. No fine was levied against the University of Oregon.
In the aftermath of the hateful incident on September 27, CU officials quickly apologized for the actions of their fans. CU Athletic Director Rick George released a statement saying, “The behavior by those fans who chanted was appalling, is unacceptable, and is not indicative of the values we strive for at CU.” CU Coach Deion Sanders, who himself has been criticized for inserting his Christian values and practices into CU’s football culture, found himself apologizing on behalf of CU. He said, “BYU, we love you, we appreciate you, and we support you. God bless you.”
Despite these apologies, CU received something the University of Oregon did not: a fine. CU will pay $50,000 to the Big 12 league office—the money will not go to BYU. This is consistent with the aggressive fines levied by the Big 12 this year for fan misbehavior. On October 21, the Big 12 fined Arizona State University $50,000 after football fans stormed the field after a win over Texas Tech. On October 15, the Big 12 gave a pair of $25,000 fines to Texas Tech and the University of Kansas—Texas earned theirs after their fans threw tortillas on the field, while Kansas earned theirs after a coach criticized how the Big 12 handles such fan incidents. Other leagues are also levying heavy fines for fan disruption this season. In May, the Southeastern Conference said that all field storming fines this season would carry $500,000 fines.
In response to the BYU incident, CU rolled out a series of changes before their next home game against Iowa State. There is a new fan hotline where spectators can report incidents of unsportsmanlike behavior directly to security. CU is increasing not just the number of security personnel for future games at Folsom Field, but the stadium will also have several plainclothes police officers throughout the stands. Finally, any violation of the school’s code of conduct will result in immediate removal and a potential season or lifetime ban from future games.
Still, some fans are upset about the Big 12 “getting too soft” and policing fan behavior too much. Others are skeptical that CU’s changes would prevent another incident in the future—indeed, the extra security and new rules didn’t stop Buffs fans from storming the field after Colorado’s win over Iowa State just two weeks after the scandalous BYU game.
While having the security protocols in place allowed CU to avoid another $50,000 fine, the fact that the new measures didn’t stop bad fan behavior begs the question: are these fines really doing anything to quell misbehavior, or are they just a way to make it appear that the league is quelling fan behavior? BYU saw their fans storm the field after their victory over Utah University, but the school avoided a fine after Crumbl CEO and BYU supporter Jason McGowan pledged to pay any fines for storming the field himself if BYU fans incurred them. While this can be seen as charitable on McGowan’s behalf, it also undermines the fan accountability the Big 12 is pushing and may become a bigger issue for them in the future.
