During his weekly appearance on Busted Open Radio, AEW president Tony Khan announced Double or Nothing would operate at full capacity.
Khan expects full capacity at Daily’s Place for the May 30th pay-per-view event, which would mean approximately 5,500 seats (dependent on production space that is needed).
In addition, Khan noted that AEW would have a live broadcast of Dynamite on Friday, May 28th, which was reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter as a scheduling issue with the NBA playoffs. Khan included news that AEW would hold a fan festival on Saturday, May 29th, the night before the pay-per-view.
Regarding tonight’s “Blood and Guts” edition of Dynamite, Khan said nearly the entire second hour of the show will be dedicated to the main event.
The Young Bucks will defend the AEW Tag Team Championship against the winner of the Four-Way Eliminator Match on next week’s episode that also features Jon Moxley vs. Yuji Nagata.
The joys of a mostly fully vaccinated society. I wish we could figure this shit out here in Canada so we could get back to some degree of normalcy eventually.
Edit: as another poster pointed out, “mostly” is a stretch. A significant portion of the population has been fully vaccinated.
I mean mostly fully vaccinated is a bit of a stretch.
As if May 5th
Florida
Number of people fully vaccinated: 6,481,275
Percentage of population fully vaccinated: 30.18
Now by the end of May that will be higher but I’m not sure if it will reach mostly by that point. But it might be somewhat close to all that can be vaccinated.
There’s really no argument for this being responsible. Has the public perception window moved enough for Khan to get away with this when included with being in Florida of all places? There we have an argument. I guess in some ways we should be thankful he wasn’t any greedier/in need before now, but there’s a middle ground they’ve just completely skipped over (including even saying “full capacity” and only allowing in vaccinated people). This being outside puts him a little better off in my book than Dana White’s abandonment of morals, but it’s not a significant enough amount better when we’re very close to that date.
I’ll walk back the “mostly” comment to say that a significant portion of the population has been fully vaccinated. The proof will be in the pudding when/if there are outbreaks linked to the event. The NFL Draft was last week and welcomed over 150,000 fans over four days. I haven’t heard a peep about any outbreaks linked to the event just yet, but perhaps the inoculation period hasn’t passed yet. We should know by next week if this was a super spreader event or not.
I dunno. I have a tough time being upset about this at this stage in the game. The American south has been playing by its own set of COVID rules all along and their society hasn’t descended into chaos much more than has happened here in Ontario where we have been on lock down for a year now. They are probably a full six months (or more) ahead of us in terms of their vaccination program. Attendees should understand the risks involved in their decision making. Let them have their fun.
I mean it depends on what you call significant I only know the full CT numbers as that is where I live (#2 in the US for Vaccinations)we are at 40% fully vaccinated with 56% having at least one shot. So if you assume some extra for single shot vaccines we will probably be around 60% around the end of May. So Florida might make 50% of the numbers are similar at all.
I do get pissed at people not taking it seriously. I understand nothing will change their minds, but the risks aren’t just theirs to bear.
I would be far more in agreement with “let them have their fun” if the general sentiment around this pandemic was being responsible, but this is happening in a state that is basically the capital of irresponsibility, with rules being rolled back as early as possible with no rhyme or reason to the actual vaccinations or ICU cases. Like @Breng77 said - this is not a individualized situation we’re in. One bad apple truly spoils the bunch in a pandemic. And in the hope of getting everyone vaccinated before a mutation that is impervious to the vaccinations becomes a real thing, every person/event that isn’t being safe is just adding to the risk for the world.
I absolutely understand everyone’s need for normalcy at this point - I’m really feeling it myself - but we’re getting too close to the end to put that finish line in jeopardy, so while I’m not going to riot about this thing, I’m not giving Khan any sort of positive response to this happening.
How realistic is this, though? Canada has done horribly with its vaccination program and supposedly we are still one of the “leaders” in the Western world. It could be many years before vaccines become widespread in the more destitute and impoverished regions of the world. Are we supposed to keep our society on lockdown until Ethiopia and the Philippines hit a 100% vaccination rate? Or am I misunderstanding your point?
Other parts of the world are already moving ahead as well. There was a mass religious gathering in Israel last week where so many people attended that there was a stampede and a bunch of people died. The reason they felt comfortable moving ahead with the event is cited to be that they are a society with a widespread and successful vaccination program. The American south is not unique in its desire to plow ahead.
That would be a great question for @Alex_Patel if he has a moment. What would constitute a significant enough portion of societal vaccination to justify reopening of sporting events and concerts? Is 30% even within the realm of acceptability?
It’s hard to tell, but the herd immunity estimates are around 60 to 70%. That includes those who have had the virus, as well as those who are immune via vaccination.
As I understand this event is outdoors - outdoors is much safer and one would imagine a lower threshold for spread is needed versus indoors. Moreover, preferentially letting in people who are vaccinated can alter these, in combination with looking at locals rates of infection and seeing whether you have significant community spread.
Thanks for the response. Sounds like a long list of variables, of which AEW does check a few. It will be interesting whether or not AEW has any sort of vaccination protocol for the show. Because we are talking about Florida, something tells me they will not. But with so few seats to fill and presumably plenty of pent up demand, maybe they will do the right thing for public health and/or their reputation.
For the NFL Draft last week they required vaccinations for any of the crowd members in the inside bowl area where there was more access to players and media. Fans in the outer seating area weren’t required to be vaccinated but masks were “required.” The NFL Network and media were making a big deal of everyone on screen being vaccinated and the players being able to hug Roger Goodell after last year’s social distancing Draft.
Yeah, just checking out the crowd as Jericho comes out and we listen to Judas and like…maybe 30% of them are wearing masks? It feels problematic and as we’ve been talking about here - I think we’d all feel perfectly fine with it if Khan makes it vaccine-only…so hopefully he amends the rules by the time tickets go on sale.
Anyone want to meet up to attend Dynamite that Friday and DoN, I’d consider doing a bit of a weekend. Especially if anyone is down to play golf Saturday somewhere?!