In late September, the Dallas Mavericks announced that fans would be required to provide proof of vaccination or have a negative COVID-19 test in order to attend Mavericks home games.
Now, six games into the 2021-2022 NBA season, the Mavericks are reversing course.
As announced on the Mavericks website on Saturday, most fans will no longer be required to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend home games.
“The Mavericks, in conjunction with the NBA, announced today that beginning Nov. 15, fans seated beyond 15 feet of the court will no longer need to complete a Fan Health Survey to enter the game,” Dallas said in a statement.
“Those same fans will also no longer need to submit proof of a negative COVID-19 test or full vaccination status within 48 hours of the game.”
The decision was made as cases in Dallas County, Texas, have been below 500 per day in recent weeks. Masks, however, will still be required for fans over the age of two years old.
The changes will be implemented starting November 15, though owner Mark Cuban did leave the door open for putting the more strict regulations back in place should COVID-19 cases rise.
“People are still getting vaccinated. Booster shots are becoming more prevalent,” Cuban said on Twitter. “Cases are going down. Let’s hope people stay smart. Don’t want cases to go back up and have to re-institute the requirements.”
It’s an interesting turn of events considering Cuban requires his employees to be vaccinated. He discussed this stance on the “10 Questions with Kyle Brandt” podcast in mid-October.
“It is your choice. It is absolutely, positively up to you. But there are consequences that come with that,” Cuban said. “If you work for me, I require my employees to be vaccinated unless there’s a doctor’s reason where they can’t be. I don’t want my kids to be at risk, so the consequences of you not being vaccinated is I’m not going to shut the [expletive] up. I’m going to be in your mother [expletive] ear driving you mother[expletive]s crazy.”
According to Forbes, there are currently four NBA teams requiring proof of vaccination in order to attend games: The Toronto Raptors, the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, and the Brooklyn Nets. Eleven other teams require either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to attend.
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Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].