Hockey teams feed off of the energy of their hometown fans during the playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes are apparently looking to make sure that they maintain that home-ice advantage during their Eastern Conference second-round series with the New York Rangers.
Fans trying to purchase tickets to any second-round game in Raleigh, North Carolina are met with the below disclaimer on the team’s website:
“PNC Arena is located in Raleigh, NC. Sales to this event will be restricted to residents of North Carolina/South Carolina and Southern Virginia. Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside North Carolina/South Carolina and Southern Virginia will be canceled without notice and refunds given.”
This restricted sales area policy means that Rangers fans without a billing address in North Carolina, South Carolina or Southern Virginia are unable to purchase tickets to attend any Hurricanes home game this series.
Unless Rangers fans can somehow work around this, PNC Arena will be packed primarily with Hurricanes faithful.
This tactic is becoming more common in the sports world.
In January, the Rams restricted the ability of fans to purchase tickets to the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers to those who live in the Greater Los Angeles area. This was done in an effort to make sure that the game didn’t turn into a home-field advantage for the visiting 49ers, as it did when the two teams met in the regular season.
The Hurricanes will host Game 1 on Wednesday and Game 2 on Friday. Games 5 and 7 (if necessary) would take place in Raleigh on May 26 and May 30, respectively.
The Hurricanes won three of four matchups with the Rangers during the regular season.
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