NYC allows unvaccinated athletes to play home games

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday changes to the city's private-sector vaccine mandate, creating an exemption to allow unvaccinated professional athletes to participate in home games in the city.

"Day 1, when I was mayor, I looked at the rule that stated hometown players had an unfair disadvantage (against) those who were coming to visit, and immediately, I felt we needed to look at that," Adams said during a press conference at Citi Field. "But my medical professionals said, 'Eric, we're at a different place. We have to wait until we're at a place when we're at a low area, and we can re-examine some of the mandates.'"

With the exemption taking effect immediately, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving, the NBA's most prominent unvaccinated player, will be permitted to join his team on the floor at Barclays Center as early as March 27 for a tilt against the Charlotte Hornets.

Additionally, unvaccinated athletes from MLB's New York Yankees and New York Mets will be able to take the field for the teams' respective home openers; the Yankees host the Boston Red Sox on April 7, while the Mets face the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 15.

Yankees star outfielder Aaron Judge, who evaded questions about his own vaccination status earlier in March, commented on the change.

"I'm happy Kyrie can play some home games," he said Wednesday, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch.

The exemption will align rules governing home and visiting athletes. To date, unvaccinated athletes from teams based outside of New York City have been eligible to play road games in the city.

Adams had repeatedly resisted modifying the private-sector mandate. He said Thursday's decision to exempt local performers wasn't spurred by outside influences.

"Tough choices take a tough person to make them ... We're not doing it because there are pressures to do it," Adams said, courtesy of Ross Barkan of The Nation.

Adams also suggested that the exemption for local athletes could potentially be removed in the event of further COVID-19 outbreaks in New York, according to ESPN's Joon Lee.

The Nets have six more regular-season home games, plus a game against the crosstown New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on April 6. Irving will be eligible for each remaining game.

The last hiccup regarding Irving's eligibility could come immediately following the regular season. With Brooklyn currently entrenched as the Eastern Conference's eighth-place team, the Nets are in line to face the seventh-seeded Toronto Raptors on the road in a play-in game; Canadian health rules currently prohibit unvaccinated athletes from entering the country.