Stanley Cup Playoffs Florida Panthers Competitor: Carolina Hurricanes – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Jeremy R. Smith Sr.
When it comes to the selling of NHL Stanley Cup playoff tickets, what goes around comes around, as the Carolina Hurricanes are geographically restricting tickets to their series against the Florida Panthers.
There is a caution on Carolina’s ticket gateway that tickets can only be purchased by people having credit card billing addresses in North Carolina, South Carolina, and areas of southern Virginia.
When the Panthers first restricted ticket sales for their second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, they caused quite a fuss (at least in Canada).
Florida’s ticket restriction only allowed people with credit card billing addresses in the United States to purchase tickets on the first day of sales.
On Saturday morning, tickets for the Panthers’ home games in the Eastern Conference playoffs went on sale.
This time, there are no geographical constraints.
When the Panthers prohibited people with a Canadian address from purchasing tickets, team president Matt Caldwell told FHN that the block was put in place so that Florida fans — theoretically — had first dibs on the available ducats.
“We’re trying to limit sales for our Florida fans for the first 24 hours or so,” Caldwell added. “It’s just a way for our fans to get tickets.” We will eventually allow tickets to be offered to Toronto fans. We simply wanted to ensure Panthers fans had access, which does not imply that all of our fans have Florida billing addresses.”
It was not received well in Canada — at all.
It was not just big news when the tickets went on sale on May 1, but it was still being discussed in Canadian media sources a week later.
The Panthers did not only waive the limitation after one day (and hike the prices on the remaining tickets), but they also did not try to prevent Toronto fans from purchasing tickets on the secondary resale market.
Florida fans appear to be outraged by Carolina’s snub, with all of the local television and radio sports shows covering the Hurricanes’ prohibition.
That is not correct.
At all.
The discussion in Toronto these days is probably not about Florida’s ticket restrictions, especially after the Maple Leafs’ Game 5 loss to the Panthers on Friday night.
On a similar point, the Panthers had to cease ticket sales for Game 6 against the Maple Leafs – to anyone, from anywhere.
It was set to take place on Sunday in Sunrise.
- When: TBA
- Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh
- TV/Radio: TBA
- Series Schedule: TBA
- Season Series: (Carolina won 2-1): Florida 3, Carolina 2 (Nov.9); Carolina 4, Florida 0 (Dec. 30); Carolina 6, Florida 4 (April 13)
- All-Time Regular Season Series: Carolina/Hartford leads 71-46-10, 11 ties
- Postseason History: First Meeting
- How They Got Here — Carolina: d. New York Islanders in 6; d. New Jersey Devils in 5. Florida: d. Boston Bruins in 7; d. Toronto Maple Leafs in 5.
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Mike has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations. He once owned his own agency and has worked with some of the largest brands in the world.
