The Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies are set to face each other in the first round of the NBA Playoffs this weekend, and due to the relatively close proximity of the two cities — it’s only about a 7-hour drive on I-40 — the Thunder have put a regional restriction on playoff ticket sales. Fans in Tennessee looking to buy tickets to Thunder home games were greeted with a message stating that only residents with Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas or Missouri billing addresses will be able to purchase online.
This isn’t some new-fangled promotion devised by the Thunder. It’s a policy they’ve had in place for awhile (Source: a Thunder season ticket holder. He said the restrictions used to be much more severe: a radius within 70 miles of Oklahoma City — meaning actual residents of Oklahoma couldn’t buy tickets). And sports teams do it all the time, with the most notorious recent case involving the Seahawks barring California residents, along with residents in 43 other states, from purchasing tickets for the NFC Championship Game (note: the Denver Broncos did it as well).
However, as we saw in Seattle, such restrictions do little to keep opposing fans out, because the secondary market is a thing that exists, and people who want to be in the arena will almost always find a way.
[BTB]
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