Florida makes tickets available to Leafs fans in Canada
Turns out the Florida Panthers aren't doing everything they can to keep Toronto Maple Leafs fans out of their arena.
Yesterday, the news broke that Canadian Leafs fans were unable to buy tickets to Games 3, 4, and 6 in Sunrise, Florida, as the sales were restricted to those with a United States-based credit card.
Many Canadian fans interested in purchasing tickets for the Leafs' road games in Florida found out the hard way that tickets weren't available to them.
"FLA Live Arena is located in Sunrise, Florida. Sales to this event will be restricted to residents of the United States. Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside of the United States will be canceled without notice and refunds given," the notice read.
But while the sales were restricted, it was merely a measure to ensure there were enough tickets for Panthers fans, without shutting them out entirely.
"We're not sold out yet, but we could be if we wanted to be and we will be," Panthers president Matthew Caldwell said to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now on Monday. "For the first 24 hours or so, we're trying to restrict the sales for our Florida fans. It is just an access thing so our fans can get tickets. We are going to allow tickets to be sold to Toronto fans eventually."
Tickets appeared to be available on Ticketmaster today for Games 3 and 4, without any warning popping up.
"We do not want to restrict them after they have been coming to our games all year," he said. "We just wanted to make sure Panthers fans had access and that doesn't mean all of our fans have Florida billing addresses. More so than Nashville or even Tampa, we have a lot of transplants and folks who live here but also have residences outside of Florida."
Toronto will be hosting the Florida Panthers for Game 1 of the second round Tuesday at 7 p.m., as well as Game 2 on Thursday, May 4. Dates for Games 3 and 4 have yet to be announced.
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