Mississippi beat Alabama on Saturday, and fans tore down both goalposts. It was awesome. But it wasn't cheap. But not to worry—fans have chipped in to more than cover the costs of a destroyed field and a big SEC fine.
The damage was: $11,000 to replace each goalpost; a $50,000 fine from the SEC for fans leaving their seats; and $3,000 in "miscellaneous" damages, resulting in a total of $75,000. Ole Miss athletics said it would be happy to cover the costs, but so many fans asked how they could help that the school turned to its own in-house crowdfunding platform, which is probably the future of university fundraising.
Fans hit the $75,000 target in about four hours yesterday, reports the Clarion-Ledger, and have continued to give—at press time it's just shy of $100,000.
Probably helping matters were the prizes for big donors, the sexiest being pieces of the goalposts. Fans claiming the 80 six- and three-inch chunks of the uprights accounted for at least $45,000 in donations.
So it's probably a good thing that AD Ross Bjork kept tabs on one of the goalposts, as it was triumphantly carried to The Grove and then to an off-campus apartment: