When the province issued new capacity restrictions for sports venues on Wednesday, many fans were left wondering what this meant for upcoming Maple Leaf and Raptors games at Scotiabank Arena.

After the provincial announcement, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) quickly issued a statement, informing fans that it would "provide follow-up details to all ticket holders within 24 hours."

For almost a full day, fans with upcoming Leafs and Raptors tickets waited in agony to find out whether or not they'd be among those admitted to the arena at 50 per cent capacity.

MLSE STATEMENT ON REDUCED CAPACITY TICKETING PROCESS pic.twitter.com/xHB7g4n4XQ

— MLSE PR (@MLSEPR) December 16, 2021

On Thursday, those details arrived, and not everyone is happy about an arrangement favouring wealthy season ticket holders and leaving the rest of the fans in the lurch.

Shocker, can’t piss of the suits. It’ll be so quiet in there you’ll hear @kyledubas and @brendanshanahan from the press box

— Steve Engstrom (@Steve_Engstrom3) December 17, 2021

"Since the province's announcement late yesterday of venue capacity restrictions effective tomorrow, MLSE's ticketing operations has been working diligently to comply with these rules as fairly and seamlessly as possible for all ticket holders for upcoming Raptors and Maple Leafs games," reads a Thursday statement issued by MLSE.

The statement goes on to say that the policy aims to "prioritize and satisfy Season Seat Member commitments," saying that these ticketholders represent a large share of fans.

This is terrible only rich people can go this is truly sickening Toronto. I would’ve rather you said top bowl only really ruining it for the likely a majority of “real fans”. Likely my dads last game. got tickets to see McDavid cause I used to play with him

— 10000x (@SmegmarsSMGM) December 17, 2021

Many season tickets packages are purchased by wealthy individuals, corporations, and other businesses, something facing harsh criticism in the Twitterverse.

So we people that can’t afford to be a season seat holder get the shaft. I was surprised with tickets to January 3rd to see Freddie Andersen return to Toronto, but now they’re being refunded & given to “priority” thanks @MLSEPR

— ❄️🍁 • Elio • 🍁❄️ (@Canuck_Grump) December 16, 2021

Anyone who purchased non-season tickets will be given a refund, while some season tickets members will be randomly allocated new tickets to accommodate the capacity restrictions.

Unfortunate this has happened. Don’t agree with only season tickets holders being able to keep their seats. My 8 year olds Santa gift is now a no go.😞 Why not a lottery of some sort?

— Laurie Brown (@LaurieB41491673) December 17, 2021

On Wednesday, MLSE also announced plans to implement more stringent mask requirements at Scotiabank Arena, with the new protocol called "Operation Mask Up (or out)" taking effect for Saturday's Raptors home game.

The protocol "requires all attendees to strictly adhere to all mask-wearing protocols or risk ejection from the building."