Blackhawk fans: Tampa ticket rules 'wrong on so many levels'
Bill Roscop of Clearwater, Florida, has been hearing from Illinois friends looking for ways around a Tampa Bay ticket policy meant to prevent a sea of Blackhawks jerseys at Wednesday's Stanley Cup game.
"I got a text from one guy who said, 'Do you have a connection? Do you have a connection?'" said Roscop, formerly of Elk Grove Village. "He didn't realize that I could just go to Ticketmaster and get them."
Not everyone has that luxury.
The Lightning organization is not allowing people who live outside Florida to buy tickets to the Stanley Cup Final games. A warning on Ticketmaster says sales are limited to Florida residents, based on the credit card billing address.
"Orders by residents outside the selected area will be canceled without notice and refunds given," it states.
Fans also will be restricted from wearing Blackhawks gear in the Tampa stadium's Chase Club or Lexus Lounge and adjoining seats. Anyone who does will be asked to remove it.
"That is wrong on so many levels. Come on. How do you enforce that? What if I wore my Blackhawks jersey to a game, am I going to have to show my driver's license to prove I live in Florida?" Roscop said. "If you're willing to jump on a plane or drive 19 hours and support your team, hey, get the best seat that you can and let the chips fall where they may."
"It's bad sportsmanship," Ashley Iovinelli of Woodridge told the Tampa Bay Times. She has family in Florida and is planning to attend Game 5, if there is one, on June 13 with her husband and parents, she told the Times.
"This is big. This is the playoffs," she said. "It's not this competition to see who can get the most fans. It's about watching hockey, so it's very frustrating."
The Lightning organization is sticking with the policy.
"We've done everything we can to preserve a hometown environment, and we're relatively happy with what we've done so far," Bill Wickett, executive vice president of communications for the Lightning, told the Tampa Bay Times.
Some Blackhawk fans see ways around the rules. After all, ticket brokers aren't checking residency of buyers.
On Twitter, some Blackhawks fans suggested wearing plain red clothing in seats with the no-Blackhawks-logo policy, though it's up in the air whether that meets the rules that specify only Lightning or "neutral" clothing.
It's not clear whether the "no Blackhawks clothing" rule is new, but the ticket restrictions are not. Hockey teams like the St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators are among the teams to add restrictions in recent years to prevent Chicago fans from scooping up seats. The goal is to prevent "too many red jerseys," as one Blues official was quoted as saying.
Because this is the Stanley Cup Final, the Lightning's rules frustrate Blackhawks fans.
"Any fan, from any fan base, should be allowed to go anywhere. If a stadium can't be sold out by your hometown fans, then shame on you," said Arlington Heights resident Bob Ibach, a fan of both teams since he lived for a while in Sarasota, Florida.
There's no doubt Chicago has a case of Stanley Cup fever, and ticket prices reflect it. Tickets for games 3 and 4 at the United Center are priced significantly higher than tickets for games 1 and 2 in Tampa. Tickets for Game 1 were going for as little as $113 each on Florida-based MySeatRocks.com Monday. The cheapest ticket available Monday on StubHub! for games 3 and 4 at the United Center is $616.50, and that's for standing room only.
A limited number of tickets will go on sale at noon Tuesday on ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Customers are limited to four tickets.