New York City approves smokeless tobacco ban at baseball stadiums

The New York City council voted nearly unanimously to ban smokeless tobacco from Yankee Stadium and Citi Field starting in 2016.

In recent months, cities across the country have voted to approve bans on smokeless tobacco products inside sports stadiums. Part of the continued movement to get people to quit using the addicting product, players and coaches are not immune to the policies and must figure out a way to kick the habit while at work.

Now, you can add New York City as the latest location to vote for such a ban on the product, a ruling that will take effect this season at both of the city’s Major League Baseball stadiums:

New York City now joins other big cities (including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco) who have passed such legislation. The fine for each offense will be the same as it is around the city for smoking in areas where it is prohibited (around $100).

Players for both the New York Yankees and New York Mets say that the decision by the New York City council is something that team members and employees will have to get used to:

"“I didn’t vote on it. I didn’t put it into effect. I didn’t publicly ask one way or the other for it,” Yankees pitcher Andrew Miller said. “It is just something we are going to have to deal with. People will have to find a way to approach it and how strictly it will be enforced.”“There are different tobacco laws in place for multiple different states — obviously smoking and smokeless,” New York Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson said. “So it’s not something that surprises me if New York or Citi Field were to go ahead and pass something like this. The only question we have is, the guys who do it, how do they know what’s going on?"

Last week, the city of Chicago passed a similar law that will cost violates $250 on the first offense, $500 for the second and $2,500 for each one that follows.

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