Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final are in Washington this upcoming Saturday and Monday. The Washington Capitals sold out for both games fast. If fans from Vegas tried to buy tickets through the team, they were prevented from getting any tickets.
This is due to a rule the Capitals have had in place for the Eastern Conference Finals and now the Stanley Cup Final, "Please note Capital One Arena is located in Washington D.C. Sales to the event will be restricted to residents of Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Residency will be based on credit card billing address."
This rule is in place for all tickets sold directly through the team. Any tickets that are being resold on secondary sites like StubHub and Ticketmaster can be purchased by anyone. But buyer beware, not every ticket sold on Ticketmaster is a resale, some are directly from the Capitals.
"They were actually refunding people that had already purchased tickets from here to D.C. and giving them their money back," says Todd Ashworth, a Golden Knights fan who had looked into traveling to D.C. "So that's kind of a foul thing to do."
13 Action News spoke with a Communications Manager from StubHub, and he told us that ticket restrictions based on where you live is not a very common rule teams have. In recent years, it's been done a few times, mostly by NHL teams and only during the playoffs. As of now, this is not a rule the Golden Knights have in place.
A spokesperson from the Capitals explained that the rule is designed to help enhance the home-ice advantage for the team, "We plan to create a great atmosphere in the building where we want all fans 'Rocking the Red' in ALL CAPS."
