Can’t buy Canes-Rangers playoff tickets to PNC Arena? Check your address.
Tickets for the upcoming playoff games between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers at PNC Arena are being limited to buyers from North Carolina, South Carolina and southern Virginia.
And some New Yorkers are not happy about it.
The Canes’ official website redirects buyers to entertainment marketplace Ticketmaster for ticket sales. On the top right corner of the screen, a notice warns buyers of a restricted sales area: only those with a billing address in either of the Carolinas or southern Virginia will get to order tickets.
Anyone with an address outside of the restricted sales area might be able to purchase tickets, only to have their orders canceled and refunded.
‘To better serve fans’
New York sports media outlet SNY reported the restricted sales Monday, stating that the geoblock was “an effort (from the Carolina Hurricanes) to prevent Rangers fans from entering their building for the second round of the playoffs.”
Mark Sundheim, a Canes spokesperson, told The News & Observer in an email that geoblocking isn’t unusual.
“It’s an extremely common practice across pro sports [...] to cut down on out-of-market scalping and prioritize their home areas for the primary market,” he said. “Especially when it comes to the most desirable tickets like playoffs and premium seating.”
Sundheim then pointed the finger back at New York in his email.
He shared a screenshot of a similar restriction notice on a Ticketmaster page for an upcoming New York Yankees game against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. The notice alerts page visitors that tickets will be limited to buyers with billing addresses from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
“There are no restrictions on fans from other teams attending our games or wearing their jerseys,” Sundheim clarified.
The notice on Ticketmaster says that the restricted sales area is in place “to better serve Carolina Hurricanes fans,” and notes that “PNC Arena is located in Raleigh, NC.”
Another NHL team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, also restricted sales in 2018, according to The Washington Post. The team barred buyers without a Florida ZIP code in their billing addresses from buying tickets for playoffs games against the Washington Capitals hosted in Tampa.
The Los Angeles Rams also restricted sales to certain areas for the NFC Championship game last season against the San Francisco 49ers, a rule they later changed.
Teams can regulate initial ticket sales, but often cannot regulate secondary markets. So buyers within the restricted sales area can resell their tickets on marketplaces like Vivid Seats or StubHub if they can no longer go or are trying to earn an extra buck. Fans outside the geo-blocked area could buy tickets on those sites, but face paying more than the original price tag from scalping and extra fees.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, the cheapest price for a single ticket to the first game in the second round on Ticketmaster was $95 before taxes and fees. That ticket was on the highest row of section 318.
The most expensive Ticketmaster tickets were a pair of front row, lower-level seats on resale for $1,250 apiece before taxes and fees.
Tickets for the Canes-Rangers playoffs games at Madison Square Garden in New York have no restriction.
Round 2 of the playoffs
The Hurricanes-Rangers second-round series starts Wednesday at PNC Arena. Game 1 is slated for a 7 p.m. start and will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN and its family of networks and apps.
For a full schedule and stats, read here.
This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 2:28 PM.
