As more people get coronavirus vaccinations, some professional athletes are choosing to remain unvaccinated, resulting in a negative effect on the competition and morality in the sports world.
The NBA, which isn’t enforcing coronavirus vaccine mandates, has informed its teams that unvaccinated players will face many of the same restrictions the 2020 season had including daily testing, according to a Sept. 28 ESPN article.
In the memo ESPN obtained, there are policy differences between unvaccinated and vaccinated players, according to the same article.
Unvaccinated players are required to remain at their residences during home games and at the team hotel for road contests with the exceptions of team and essential activities including buying groceries or taking their kids to schools.
The only in-person interactions an unvaccinated player can have with non-family members would be with a small number of close personal guests who’ve to be tested beforehand, according to the ESPN article.
Some players who’ve yet to take the vaccine including Brooklyn Nets’ guard Kyrie Irving may be forced to take it because of the COVID-19 policies in the athlete’s city in which they play.
Golden State Warriors’ forward Andrew Wiggins is an example of this as he reportedly got vaccinated after refusing to do so initially. According to an ESPN article, Wiggins said he felt forced to get vaccinated because if he didn’t, it would mean the end of his NBA career.
The lack of pay, on top of COVID-19 policy limitations, may also entice some players to get vaccinated for their upcoming seasons.
The NBA announced unvaccinated players on teams based in New York and San Francisco won’t get paid for the games they miss, according to a Sept. 29 ESPN article.
Vaccine mandates issued by cities, including New York that requires at least one-shot vaccination and San Francisco that requires two, are being strictly enforced for access and entry to public venues, according to the same ESPN article.
Like most people, professional sports athletes want to be paid for their talents so taking that money away may push unvaccinated players to get the vaccine.
It’s not just the NBA that has announced strict policies in regards to vaccination requirements.
The NFL hasn’t enforced vaccine mandates on players but released a memo regarding COVID-19 policies to teams before its season started on Sept. 9.
In the memo, the NFL stated the consequences for teams who aren’t fully vaccinated would be an outbreak in cases.
The memo includes that if a game is canceled because of a COVID-19 outbreak among unvaccinated players on a team and can’t be rescheduled within the 18-week schedule, the club with the outbreak will have to forfeit the competition and will have been considered to have played 16 games. The forfeiting team will be given a loss and the other team will be credited with a win.
Coaches are here to see their teams compete and win, not be sick and defeated from the COVID-19 virus.
While players can choose to be vaccinated or not, it may result in the loss of a competitive edge.
Tom Brady, MVP of Super Bowl 55 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, spoke out in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times regarding the COVID-19 policies.
“I actually think it’s going to play more of a factor this year than last year, just because of the way what we’re doing now and what the stadium is going to look like and what the travel is going to look like and the people in the building and the fans,” Brady told the news organization in its Sept. 4 article.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers said the team is 100% vaccinated, in a Sept. 2 ESPN article.
The consequences of remaining unvaccinated will have a negative effect between vaccinated players and teams with those who’re unvaccinated in upcoming seasons.
It will be interesting to see which teams across the sports world will win or lose as unvaccinated players affect the seasons.
