VAX UPDATE:
EAGLES, REBELS

The Eagles have added a date at Seattle’s brand-new Climate Pledge Arena—home of NHL expansion team the Kraken—to the band’s Hotel California 2021 Tour. The press release announcing the 11/5 date notes that concertgoers must be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination to attend the show.

The tour is being produced by Live Nation, which announced on Friday that acts playing its venues will have the option to require vaccination or proof of a negative test result for people who want to attend their shows. The Eagles—whose tour kicks off on 8/13—have chosen to exercise that option, in what is shaping up to be a growing trend.

In related news that could positively impact both sports and entertainment gatherings in the Southeast, Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin has told ESPN that his team and staff are now 100% vaccinated.

Georgia's Kirby Smart said last month that his team had reached the 85% vax mark, while Alabama's Nick Saban said that "pretty close to 90%" of the Crimson Tide's players had been vaccinated. According to reports last month, Arkansas and LSU were also at least 80% vaccinated.

In the football-crazy South, fans would be crushed if their teams were forced to forfeit games because of COVID outbreaks, just as music fans in the region would be disappointed to see shows canceled out of fear that unvaccinated concertgoers could trigger superspreader eruptions.

Deadspin greeted today’s news with a story pointedly headlined “SEC fans need to stop being stupid and follow the lead of their teams by getting vaccinated.” Mississippi has the lowest vaccination rate in the country, at 38.64%, while Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Arkansas are all in the bottom 10.

The closest the Eagles will get to SEC country this fall is Dallas, where they’re scheduled to play American Airlines Center 9/20-21.

Awesome job everyone!!!! Players, staff, and students !! #ProtectTheTeam ⁦@OleMissFB⁩ Hope this motivates the whole state. https://t.co/alK2FWmvpG

— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) August 8, 2021