New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he believes the city’s rules allowing unvaccinated visiting NBA stars to play while barring unvaccinated home stars, such as Kyrie Irving, is “unfair.”
However, Adams said he is reluctant to change the rules because he does not want to send “the wrong message” on COVID-19 vaccines or make a change that could risk the city shutting down in the future due to a COVID-19 surge.
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“First of all, I think that the rule is unfair. I believe that we are saying to out-of-town athletes that they can come in and not be vaccinated, yet New York athletes have to be vaccinated. And they also do this for entertainers,” Adams said during a press conference Wednesday. “I am really, really leery about sending the wrong message. Having this city close down again keeps me up at night, and the message was put in place, the rule was put in place, to start changing it now I think it would send mixed messages.”
The policy comes from a proof of COVID-19 vaccination requirement for many indoor venues former Mayor Bill de Blasio implemented last year. The policy has prevented Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving from playing home games at the Barclays Center. Adams was asked about the policy after NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he thought the rule “doesn’t quite make sense.”
“This law in New York, the oddity of it to me is that it only applies to home players,” Silver said during an interview Wednesday. “I think if ultimately that rule is about protecting people who are in the arena, it just doesn’t quite make sense to me that an away player who is unvaccinated can play in Barclays, but the home player can’t. To me, that’s a reason they should take a look at that ordinance.”
The NBA does not require players to get vaccinated, so Irving has been able to play away games. Last year, Irving said he was not getting the COVID-19 vaccine because he was doing what was best for him — he did not elaborate on his concerns with the vaccine.
Adams said he was “struggling” with the issue but avoided commenting directly on whether he would change it.
New York City mayor Eric Adams was asked about changing the city’s rules to allow Kyrie Irving to play home games at Barclays Center. Here’s what he said:
(via @ChrisLavinio) pic.twitter.com/3Snfypz5qc
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) February 16, 2022
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Earlier this week, New York City fired 1,430 city workers who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine for violating the city’s mandate. This included 914 officials in the Department of Education, 36 New York Police Department workers, and 25 Fire Department workers, according to the New York Post. Last Friday was the deadline for the workers to get the vaccine.
