Carolina Hurricanes Storm Surge (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)

Carolina Hurricanes Geo-Restricting Playoff Ticket Sales

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Daniel Amoia | Last updated Apr 11, 2025 1:40 PM ET

If you’re a New Jersey Devils fan from the Garden State hoping to travel and see your team play a Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoff game in Carolina, there’s now a wrench in your plans. The Carolina Hurricanes are restricting sales of their playoff tickets based on geographical location.

Here’s part of the notice visible on Ticketmaster when someone attempts to purchase tickets to Games 1, 2, 5 or 7, which will be held at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina: “To better serve Carolina Hurricanes fans, a restricted sales area has been implemented for this Hurricanes game. 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 of the geo-limited area will be canceled without notice and refunds given.”

This is not an uncommon practice come playoff time, as some teams have utilized this strategy in an effort to keep scalpers away. Some believe it’s used to keep away fans out of the arena, as well.

Hurricanes Aren’t the First Team

Certain teams have even taken it a step further, like in the 2021 playoffs when the Tampa Bay Lightning entirely banned opposing team merchandise from being worn in any “premium seating” location inside Amalie Arena. After heavy public backlash, they stopped enforcing this policy. Still, each season, the Lightning typically ban selling playoff tickets to fans with a non-Florida address.

It appears to be out of the Hurricanes’ control if fans who legally buy tickets opt to utilize resale markets to sell to residents from outside of the buying area. But those resale tickets are often pricier than buying through the team, and the seating options are far more limited. Thus, it can also be unfair to Hurricanes fans who live further away.

Nonetheless, it should still be expected that many Devils fans will make the trip to Raleigh, just as many Hurricanes fans will head up to Newark for Games 3, 4 and 6. At this moment, the Devils do not have any geo-restrictions on their playoff home games.

The two teams faced off in Round 2 of the 2023 postseason, where the Hurricanes took the series in five games. MoneyPuck currently gives the Hurricanes a 65.7% chance to advance past the Devils.