The Texas Rangers stunned sports fans with decision to open ballpark at full capacity

Uh, what?

Almost exactly one year ago, sports in the U.S. went into a complete shutdown amid the coronavirus cases on the Utah Jazz. The NBA season was suspended, March Madness was canceled, Major League Baseball delayed the start of its season.

And as we approach that one-year mark, the pandemic is very much an ongoing crisis, and sports teams have generally adjusted to navigating the pandemic.

But last week, the state of Texas — in direct defiance of the CDC — opted to lift all COVID-19 mask and occupancy restrictions.

It didn’t take long for a professional sports team to use that decision as an opportunity to profit at the expense of public health.

On Wednesday, the Texas Rangers announced that they would open Globe Life Field at full capacity for the season with mask and social-distancing rules (which is obviously not possible in a full stadium).

In an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, part owner Neil Leibman said that he didn’t feel opening up a ballpark to 40,518 fans would risk a super-spreader event. He justified that decision as the team being “extremely responsible” while going ahead and not being responsible at all.

We all want COVID to be done with, and the three approved vaccines are being administered by the millions daily. But health officials have urged the public to continue to take safety precautions (masks, avoid travel and large indoor gatherings) in light of variants.

MLB fans were justifiably stunned to see that the Rangers were allowed to actually open the stadium.

https://twitter.com/Dan_Larsen34/status/1369724836872921092

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