Fresh off their first-round playoff series win over the Boston Bruins, the Carolina Hurricanes will play another big-market squad in the New York Rangers starting Wednesday. This time around, Carolina is taking a step to prevent an opposing fan takeover at PNC Arena.
Carolina instituted a “restricted sales area” policy for its second-round playoff tickets. This means that only people from North Carolina, South Carolina and southern parts of Virginia can purchase tickets directly from the team. If anyone outside those areas attempts to purchase a ticket to Games 1 or 2 from the Hurricanes’ website, they’ll see the following disclaimer:
“Very Important!! 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.”
Carolina is set to host Games 1 and 2, and plenty of primary-market tickets remain available for as low as $95. The Hurricanes will also host Games 5 and 7, if those games are necessary.
The policy won’t completely erase the possibility of a New York fan takeover, though. Carolina will be unable to control secondary-market ticket sales, giving people from all areas the ability to get seats to Hurricanes home games during the series.
New York — which declined to employ ticket-purchasing restrictions — has already sold out all its tickets to Games 3, 4 and 6 at Madison Square Garden.
The Hurricanes’ policy is not unheard of. The NFL‘s Los Angeles Rams and Tennessee Titans introduced similar policies during the 2022 playoffs. For the NFC Championship game at SoFi Stadium, the Rams ensured only residents of the Greater Los Angeles region would have access to tickets. The Titans, meanwhile, restricted fans from transferring tickets to their playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals until 24 hours before kickoff at Nissan Stadium.
Game 1 of the Rangers-Hurricanes series is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN and is available to stream on fuboTV (try for free).
