In the wake of Texas Governor Greg Abbott's decision last week to allow businesses to open without restriction, the Texas Rangers have announced they will have full seating capacity for two exhibition games against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 29th and 30th and on Opening Day against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 5th. The Rangers become the first professional sports team in North America to have full seating capacity of any kind during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This strikes me as really, really bad idea.
On one hand, the Rangers indicate that no one will be admitted to Globe Life Park without a mask. On the other hand, the Rangers are also emphasizing "voluntary compliance."
What the hell does this mean?
I'll tell you that this means we have a superspreader event.
Yes, the roof will be open for these games. However, people will be eating and drinking in close proximity to each other.
The Rangers say they will ask anyone to leave if they have been caught not wearing a mask thrice. But how does this "three strikes" rule possibly get enforced?
It is worth noting the Rangers will revert to distanced seating after the home opener. Again, this doesn't make sense. If it's safe to have full capacity crowd on Opening Day then why are they reverting to distanced seating? Well, because the home opener is usually a sellout and the Rangers are putting profits ahead of people.
Of course, no one is being forced to attend this game. But someone who does attend the game could become infected and spread COVID to someone who didn't attend the game.
Above all else why is MLB permitting this to happen?
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