President Biden on Wednesday criticized MLB’s Texas Rangers for not placing any limits on fans attending the team’s first home game next week.
“Well, that’s a decision they made. I think it’s a mistake,” Biden said during an interview with ESPN. “They should listen to Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, the scientists and the experts. But I think it’s not responsible.”
The Rangers, who play their home games at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, said they will allow a full-capacity crowd on Monday when the team hosts the Toronto Blue Jays.
Globe Life Field can seat more than 40,000 people.
“The Rangers are encouraged that the Governor’s Office has given clearance for us to fully open Globe Life Field at the start of the 2021 Major League Baseball season,” Neil Leibman, the team’s president of business operations and chief operating officer, said this week.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has taken nationwide heat for lifting the state’s mask mandate last month, a decision Biden at the time likened to “Neanderthal” thinking.
After their first home game, the Rangers said they plan to rope off certain sections of seats to allow for social distancing.
Biden earlier this week urged state governments to not ease up on public health measures and implored all Americans to continue wearing masks and practicing social distance.
“I’m reiterating my call for every governor, mayor and local leader to maintain and reinstate the mask mandate,” Biden said. “Please, this is not politics. Reinstate the mandate if you let it down.”