NYC Mayor: Nets, Knicks, Yankees, Mets 'Have To Wait' For Loosened COVID-19 Vaccination Restrictions

New York City mayor Eric Adams said the city's professional sports teams are going to have to wait their turn when it comes to vaccination-mandate rollbacks.

"Right now, we're going to take some complaints," Adams said during a Tuesday morning press conference. "But when this is all said and done, people are going to realize this is a thoughtful administration and we got it right. So baseball, basketball, businesses, all of those things, they have to wait until that layer comes."

Adams' comments came as he announced that masks will be optional for daycare students between the ages of 2 and 4 starting on April 4.

The Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, New York Yankees, and New York Mets are all waiting on a rollback of the private employer vaccine mandate, which does not allow employees to work — or play for their teams — if they are not vaccinated against COVID-19.

OutKick reported last week that the same mandate keeping unvaccinated Nets star Kyrie Irving off the court will keep unvaccinated Yankees and Mets players off the field.

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"We're going to do it in the right way," Adams said. "We're going to follow the science … we're going to make the right decision. And in New York, no matter what you do, this is 8.8 million people and 30 million opinions, so you're never going to satisfy New Yorkers, so you must go with the logic, your heart and the science."

Just days ago, OutKick's Nick Geddes reported that Adams said he will not be influenced by professional sports schedules in altering the private sector mandate that prohibits unvaccinated athletes from playing in home games.

"We're going to slowly peel back, as I stated over and over again, we're going to do it layer by layer and each layer we peel back we're going to do an analysis: Are we ok?" Adams said. "And if we have to pivot and shift and come back here in a week and say we're going to do something different, we're going to do that. I'm not going to hesitate to say this is where the numbers are taking us, this is where the science is and this is what we're going to do. Because I'm not going to only view this from where we are in the crisis, I see myself out of crisis.

"And people are going to look back later like they did with the schools, remember what they did to us when we were talking about keeping the schools open — I said don't worry about the noise, team, we're going to do the right thing for our children and people are going to look back later and say, 'You know what? We don't want to admit it, but this administration got it right, and they're going to do that again.'"

Adams said he's gotten feedback from local businesses that they are thankful the mandate has remained in place.

"Believe it or not, a lot of our businesses, they love the mandates," Adams said. "When I speak to a lot of my businesses, getting people back in the office, that mandate is allowing them to feel safe in the office for those who feel that they would rather the vaccine mandate to be in place. But again, we're going to do it in layers, and when we feel it's the right time to look at that, if we do so at all, because the work environment is an important environment, we're going to make that determination. We're not there yet."

Check back with OutKick for updates.