ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips announced a pair of new rules that the conference will enforce with the 2025 football season which figure to enliven the conference. After seeing the SEC and the Big Ten take a dominant role in the NIL era of college football, the ACC finds itself looking to make a step forward. A pair of new rules might help with that advance.
New Rule Announcements for the ACC
Phillips addressed the media at ACC Media Days in Charlotte and spoke on a variety of subjects, but the most immediate attention went to a pair of new rule announcements. The issues implicated have drawn consideration from all power conferences, but the ACC announced its own approaches, which differ from its league brethren.
Jim Phillips says the ACC is implementing two polices for football, basketball and baseball.
1. The league is cracking down on field/court-storming.
2. There will now be required injury availability reports. Those reports will be required two days before football games.
— Josh Graham (@JoshGrahamShow) July 22, 2025
With the conference Media Day occurring yesterday, focus on the ACC will only increase heading into 2025. Longtime favorite Clemson figures to be a focus, but Phillips’s entire league has given fans plenty to discuss, including a pair of significant new rule developments.
Injury Reports
The ACC will mandate injury reports heading into football season. All teams will be required to submit initial injury reports two days prior to kickoff. An update will be mandated on the day before kickoff and then on the game day. Given that some power conference teams have been notoriously stingy about injury information, the conference’s forward approach should represent a new era in injury disclosure.
The SEC moved in an even more intense era of disclosure, with its initial injury reports being due three days before kickoff. On the other hand, the Big Ten is requiring injury reports just two hours before kickoff. The ACC once had an informal policy of coaches exchanging injury information, but it had been discontinued in recent years.
In his remarks, Phillips expressed his hopes that the new rule will prevent premiums existing on information from those tangential to programs. Gambling odds manipulation has made player injury information a significant matter for behind-the-scenes information, but Phillips intends to bring the matter into the public eye with his new ACC rule.
Field/Court Storming Penalties
The other new announcement was a more stringent policy from the ACC in regard to field storming or court storming from fans. The increasing frequency of field or court storming incidents has made the matter one of great concern for college sports’ top honchos. A significant injury, if not an outright assault, seems increasingly likely.
Phillips announced a new policy. While fans can enter the field or court, they may do so only after the visiting team and officials have had a full opportunity to leave. For the first breach of this new policy, the offending school will face a $50,000 fine. A second offense would carry a $100,000 fine and a third offense a $200,000 fine. All funds earned will be paid to the ACC’s postgrad scholarship fund.
Again, other conferences have elected for different treatments. The SEC, for instance, has announced a flat $500,000 fine for the first offense. That league didn’t craft an exemption for entry of the field or court after the opposing players and officials leave, but did allow itself leeway to waive any fines if the players and officials have managed to leave the area of competition.
Phillips expressed general satisfaction with the league as he begins his fifth season as the ACC Commissioner. While the league has fallen behind the SEC and Big Ten in football, the College Football Playoff figures to keep the ACC genuinely in the national title hunt in seasons to come. Phillips’s new rules will give fans another talking point in the endless debate for NCAA athletic supremacy.
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