In an attempt to keep Toronto Maple Leafs fans from taking over FLA Live Arena during their upcoming second-round Stanley Cup playoff series, the Panthers are restricting ticket sales for home games to United States residents only.
“FLA Live Arena is located in Sunrise, Florida. Sales to this event will be restricted to residents of the United States. Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside of the United States will be cancelled without notice and refunds given,” reads a message on the Ticketmaster website on pages to purchase tickets for Panthers home games.
While those living in Canada won’t be able to buy tickets directly from Ticketmaster, resale tickets are of course available to purchase for everyone — just at a much higher price through third-party websites.
The Panthers did not make an official statement explaining their reason for limiting ticket sales. There are seven NHL teams based in Canada that play through the regular season without issues. The Vegas Golden Knights are taking on the Edmonton Oilers for their second round series but have not put any restrictions on ticket sales.
Maple Leafs fans are known for hitting the road well to support their team, and they do have extra motivation right now, as the Leafs are competing in the second round of the postseason for the first time since 2004.
The other angle here is that Panthers fans aren’t great at showing up at FLA Live Arena. According to Hockey DB, the Panthers had the seventh-lowest average attendance in the NHL during the regular season. Meanwhile, the Leafs had the fifth best.
Florida residents also have a fair share of sports action to check out this month. FLA Live is less than an hour away from Kaseya Center, where the Miami Heat play. They currently in the conference semifinals of the NBA playoffs, facing the New York Knicks.
The Leafs won their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-2. They will be hosting Game 1 and 2 of the second-round series at Scotiabank Arena. The Panthers, who took down the Boston Bruins, 4-3, in Game 7 on Sunday night, will host Games 3, 4 and 6 if necessary.
