The Tampa Bay Lightning do not want Blackhawks fans in their stadium for the Stanley Cup — and they may have gone too far in making that happen.
Chicago Blackhawks fans travel well, as it’s something that makes their fanbase one of the best in all of sports. It’s also something that makes them unwelcome in hostile territory and has forced some franchises to enforce strict ticket sale rules to keep Blackhawks fans out.
Nashville tried this in the first-round and now the Tampa Bay Lightning are trying it in the Stanley Cup. But with ticketing restrictions comes nasty hang ups — and the Lightning are dealing with a doozy.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Army captain Paul Dhillon tried to sell his Stanley Cup Finals tickets on the secondary market — something that the Lighting not only blocked him from doing but threatened him over.
"“And as he has tried to sell his tickets on secondary markets, he said the Lightning front office has threatened to move his seats or cancel them for the rest of the playoffs and next season. It temporarily blocked his ability to manage his tickets online and said he would have to pick up his tickets in person at the arena if he wants to use them.”"
There’s nothing wrong with wanting your own fans to make up the majority of the crowd at home games, especially in the Stanley Cup. But this is going to the extreme and it’s pretty gross to hear about. It’s one thing to make sure fans have a chance to get tickets to the Stanley Cup, but Game 1 has already happened and the schedule has been out for a while now.
If you haven’t gotten your Stanley Cup tickets now, you’ve forfeited your right to the ‘first come, first served’ policy. The Lighting have since apologized to Dhillon, but this is as much proof as you need that ticket policies like this are stupid and pointless.
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