Jayhawks arrive in NYC fully vaccinated and ready for season opener at Madison Square Garden

By Matt Tait Nov 9, 2021

The Kansas men's basketball team heads to the locker room through the fog in preparation for their scrimmage during Late Night in the Phog, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021 at Allen Fieldhouse.

New York City — The Kansas men’s basketball team arrived in the Big Apple on Monday evening with a roster full of coaches and players who were fully vaccinated.

Kansas coach Bill Self said on his “Hawk Talk” radio show last Thursday that many players and staff members had even received their booster shots.

“Some of our athletes, if not all, had that available (on Thursday),” Self said. “Maybe not every one of our guys got it, but the majority of our guys got a booster as well.”

While the vaccine status of players throughout sports has been a hot-button topic in recent weeks, it took on significance for the Jayhawks because of the rules in place at Madison Square Garden, site of tonight’s 6 p.m. [season opener against Michigan State at the Champions Classic.][1]

According to the Garden’s website, the arena is following the “Key to NYC” vaccination requirement, which went into effect in mid-August. It requires individuals to show proof of vaccination to gain entrance to all of the city’s entertainment venues.

The Garden’s official website also notes that, “government mandates for attending indoor events at venues such as the Garden, currently state all guests 12 and older are required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination. This means you’ve had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine prior to attending. Guests may also show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination. This means the day of your event is at least 14 days after your final vaccine dose, which, depending on the type of vaccine, may be one dose or two.” According to the Garden website, fully vaccinated guests are not required to wear a mask in the building.

“All our guys are vaccinated, so we’re happy about that,” Self said on Hawk Talk. “So that won’t be an issue at all.”

Expected to be at or near capacity, with a limited number of tickets still available on the third-party market, tonight’s KU-MSU game will be the Jayhawks’ first real game in front of a full venue since March 7, 2020.

On that day, roughly 19 months ago, a sellout crowd of 15,098 filled United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas, to watch KU knock off Texas Tech, 66-62, in what turned out to be the final game of the 2019-20 season before COVID-19 shut down the sports world.

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2021/nov/08/game-day-breakdown-no-3-kansas-basketball-vs-michi/

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.