Report: MLB asks Rangers not to start selling tickets for 2020 season

The Texas Rangers announced Wednesday they would sell tickets for their limited home schedule in 2020, taking advantage of the state allowing athletic venues to open at 50% capacity.

This plan has already drawn some concern from Major League Baseball. The league has asked the Rangers to not sell tickets right away while it studies whether fans can be safely allowed into any of its venues when the season begins in late July, a source told Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.

Right now, the Rangers and Houston Astros - MLB's two Texas-based franchises - are the only teams theoretically allowed to host even a limited number of fans in 2020. Grant reported Wednesday that MLB will likely allow teams to create their own fan policies based on the COVID-19 regulations of their respective home cities and states.

"We are following the guidance of the state to begin with," Rangers executive vice president of business operations Rob Matwick told Grant Wednesday. "Our plan is based on local jurisdiction, but we are also part of a league. They do have input and we want that input. Other states could be coming online. It helps for all of us to have a framework."

The Rangers' new stadium, Globe Life Field, has a listed capacity of 40,300. If they were to allow fans in, about 20,000 tickets could be sold to each of their 30 home games.

While Texas is the lone jurisdiction allowing fans to attend sporting events right now, the Rangers aren't the only team preparing for the possibility of a crowd during the pandemic. Chicago Cubs executive Crane Kenney and Boston Red Sox president Sam Kennedy both mused about hosting fans at their respective ballparks at some point this season.

Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke about the possibility of hosting fans on Wednesday, telling Ronald Blum of The Associated Press that the sport should "get comfortable" safely playing in empty ballparks before fans can come back.