Mayor Eric Adams already had described as “unfair” the New York City mandates allowing visiting players to participate in professional sporting events within the five boroughs without receiving a COVID-19 vaccination, while unvaccinated hometown players could not play. 

Adams took that feeling a step further Thursday, exempting athletes and performers from the city — including Nets guard Kyrie Irving and any unvaccinated Yankees and Mets — from those private-sector mandates, declaring as “unimaginable” the rules initiated under his predecessor, Bill de Blasio. 

“This is about putting New York City based-performers on a level playing field,” Adams said at a press conference in the Jackie Robinson Rotunda at Citi Field, which was attended by Yankees president Randy Levine and Mets president Sandy Alderson. “Day 1 when I [became] mayor, I looked at the rule that stated hometown players had an unfair disadvantage to those who were coming to visit and immediately I felt we needed to look at that. 

“We were treating our performers differently because they lived and played for home teams. It’s not acceptable. This exemption has been putting our sports teams at a self-imposed competitive disadvantage. But this new order will help boost our economy. … By putting our home teams on an equal playing field, we increase their chances of winning and that has a real impact on our city.” 

About 1,400 of more than 340,000 city employees lost their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated, but the Yankees, Mets and Nets (for which Irving finally will make his home debut this season Sunday against the Hornets) certainly were not among those groups unhappy with Adams’ decision to reverse de Blasio’s order. 

“It’s wonderful to have a mayor at Citi Field on a day that we’re not playing the Red Sox,” Alderson cracked, referring to de Blasio, a noted Boston fan (Adams has said in the past he also is a Red Sox fan, but more recently claimed Mets fandom). 

“[Mets owners] Steve and Alex Cohen are committed to the city of New York,” Alderson said. “We’re proud to partner with the mayor and his team in their effort to reopen New York City and drive the economic recovery.” 

Irving only has been eligible for road games this season. Unvaccinated players on the two local baseball clubs were facing similar restrictions at home games beginning with their respective home openers: April 7 for the Yankees against the Red Sox and April 15 for the Mets against the Diamondbacks. 

“I still feel Kyrie and all players should get vaccinated. Nothing has changed,” Adams said. 

Neither Levine nor Alderson would divulge which or how many players would have been affected had the mandates remained in place. Among the players who have declined to say whether they have been vaccinated are: Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo on the Yankees and Jacob deGrom, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis on the Mets. 

Levine said the Yankees still have “a few” unvaccinated players, while Alderson added “a minority” of those on the Mets’ roster have yet to receive the shots. 

“Let me say on behalf of the Mets that we are fully committed to vaccinations and we are a mandated employer,” Alderson said. “The vast majority, 99.5 percent of our employees, complied with that mandate and are fully vaccinated. There were one or two cases that came up that people were not prepared to be vaccinated, and their situations were terminated. 

“The players are unionized, and the players are sort of outside the scope of our mandate just by virtue of our relationship with Major League Baseball, the players’ association, etcetera. So everyone [else] involved with the Mets, including scouts who are not residing in New York City and may not even come to New York City or Citi Field, everybody is required to be vaccinated.” 

Both executives stressed that their organizations support vaccines and have encouraged their players to get the shots. 

Levine added “it’s still a concern” that any unvaccinated Yankees presently are ineligible to play for any of the three trips to Toronto, the first of which begins May 2, due to Canada’s unchanged restrictions. 

“We’re working hard to get everybody vaccinated,” Levine said, citing “more than 99 percent” of Yankees employees having received the vaccine. “We all believe in vaccinations at Yankee Stadium. … We played two seasons under the most intense protocols. So we understand the science and the risk and how it works. 

“But we got through it. We get it, and that’s why we wanted to give the mayor the time to get to where he got today.” 

Alderson noted that MLB testing rules already had been relaxed ahead of Thursday’s announcement. 

According to MLB guidelines, unvaccinated players who test positive are subject to sitting out 10 days, while infected vaccinated players could come back sooner. Additionally, an unvaccinated player deemed to have come in close contact with someone who has tested positive, still must quarantine for five days, while a vaccinated player in that scenario would not have to isolate and may continue playing.