The Texas Rangers might not sell all 40,518 seats in Globe Life Field by Monday afternoon, but they'll be pretty darn close.
Only a handful of tickets remain for sale to the Rangers' home opener in Arlington against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Rangers made national headlines in the last few weeks for being the first pro sports team to reopen its stadium 100%. Other MLB teams have or will open their stadiums for the 2021 season, but none will host as many fans as Globe Life.
The Houston Astros, Texas' other pro baseball team, will open Minute Maid Park at 50% capacity. So they'll be able to sell around 20,000 tickets for their home opener on April 8.
Health experts have been raising their eyebrows at the Rangers hosting a huge crowd, but fans are OK with the potential risks.
“As long as people are wearing masks, I don’t think I’m going to get sick,” Travis Scarangello, 27, told the New York Times at a Rangers exhibition game last week. Globe Life sold around 12,000 tickets to that game.
Others at the game echoed Scarangello while other fans said they chose to go to an exhibition game because it would have a much smaller crowd compared to the regular season.
Monday's home opening has been criticized as a potential superspreader event. No one really knows the full risks of attending a packed arena during a pandemic because studies haven't been done yet, Dr. John Carlo, former medical director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, told the Dallas Morning News.
Photo: Getty Images