In a bid to discourage Toronto Maple Leafs fans from taking over the FLA Live Arena during their upcoming second-round Stanley Cup playoff series, the Panthers are restricting home game ticket sales to United States residents only.
“The FLA Live Arena is located in Sunrise, Florida. Sales for this event are restricted to residents of the United States. Residence is based on credit card billing address. Orders from residents outside of the United States will be canceled and refunded without notice,” reads a message on Ticketmaster’s website on Panthers home game ticket purchasing pages.
While those living in Canada can’t buy tickets directly from Ticketmaster, resale tickets are of course available to everyone – just at a much higher price through third-party websites.
The Panthers have not issued an official explanation as to why they have restricted ticket sales. There are seven NHL teams from Canada that make it through the regular season without a hitch. The Vegas Golden Knights are up against the Edmonton Oilers in the second round, but have not imposed any ticketing restrictions.
Maple Leafs fans are known for going out of their way to support their team, and they’re extra motivated right now as the Leafs are entering the second round of the postseason for the first time since 2004.
The other aspect here is that Panthers fans aren’t very good at performing at the FLA Live Arena. According to Hockey DB, the Panthers had the seventh-lowest regular-season average attendance in the NHL. Meanwhile, the Leafs had the fifth-best.
Florida residents also have plenty of sporting activities to offer this month. FLA Live is less than an hour from the Kaseya Center, where the Miami Heat play. They are currently in the conference semifinals of the NBA playoffs against the New York Knicks.
The Leafs won their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2. They will host Game 1 and 2 of Round 2 at Scotiabank Arena. The Panthers, who beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 in Game 7 on Sunday night, will host Games 3, 4 and 6 if necessary.