Florida Panthers restrict ticket access for Maple Leafs series to U.S. Citizens

Well, Leafs Nation, do you want to go watch the second round of the playoffs in Sunrise, Florida? Unless you’re a dual citizen, you won’t be able to.

The Florida Panthers and FLA Live Arena made the announcement Monday that they will be restricting tickets to Panthers playoff games to United States citizens only. Tickets are set to go on sale Monday morning at 11:00 A.M. Eastern Time. But, unless you have an American home address and American credit card, Maple Leafs fans will not be able to buy tickets. 

On the Ticketmaster website, a note states: “Orders by residents outside of the United States will be cancelled without notice and refunds given.” Residency, Ticketmaster says, is based on credit card billing address.

If you look at ticket prices online for game 1 at Scotiabank Arena, tickets are selling for around $428 per pair. When you look at the Panthers’ ticket prices for game 3, tickets are around the $217 mark. —significantly less. 

However, this is not the first time this has been done in the National Hockey League. Other teams have put restrictions in place in order to combat the swarm of visiting fans flocking to their arena for playoff games. We saw this in 2013 with the Ottawa Senators and the Battle of Ontario, then again with Tampa in 2015, Nashville in 2016, Dallas in 2019 and Carolina barring New York Rangers fans during last year’s playoffs. While this all seems new, it’s not. The Vegas Golden Knights have yet to limit ticket sales to Edmonton Oilers fans, and they likely won’t follow suit.

You can catch Game 1 of the Maple Leafs and Panthers on Tuesday, May 2, at 7:00 P.M. ET at Scotiabank Arena.