Texas Rangers Open Season with Full Capacity Attendance Against Recommendations from MLB

April 5th, 2021 marked a historic day for the sports world as it was the first time a professional team had opened their entire stadium up and was at 100% capacity since the shutdown caused by Covid-19. According to CNN, the Rangers brought in a crowd of at least 38,000 people with the paid attendance being 38,238. Most stadiums and teams in the MLB are only allowing for 33% capacity to ensure the virus won't spread further but there is no reason to after a year or more of lockdown.

The state of Texas had already lifted its mask mandate and returned businesses to a fully functional state before the season even had started to its no surprise the game was at full capacity. Also, Texas is known as being one of the bad boy states, much like Florida, when it comes to following recommendations from the government about personal freedoms. There were many that were agitated about them opening with full capacity since the virus is still around and the vaccines are just now being sent out, but if there is no rise in cases after the fact then there should be no change and other teams should follow their lead.

My stance on the virus situation currently in the United States and how it pertains to the sports world is that if you have already been exposed to it and have dealt with it then you should be good to go since the antibodies are already in your system to fight the virus. Also, there comes a point where the virus slows down and the lockdowns are no longer needed. Texas realized this after a year of being locked down and decided to do away with the recommended system and gave the people the freedom to choose. Currently, there are not many other teams that are following the same path as Texas and the Rangers organization but soon we may have the ability for 100% capacity at all sporting events.