The Knicks and Pistons will begin their playoff series at Madison Square Garden on Saturday evening, but once the series shifts to Detroit, local fans will have a tough time getting tickets to travel to games three and four.
When fans tried to purchase tickets to those games in the Motor City, they were met by a message on Ticketmaster revealing that buyers were being limited to those in the Detroit area.
“To better serve local fans looking to attend the playoff games at Little Caesars Arena, the Detroit Pistons are restricting tickets sales to customers located in Michigan and in certain parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario, Canada, as determined by the Pistons and subject to change,” the message said, adding that those who purchased tickets with a billing zip code outside of those areas would be issued a refund.
Knicks fans, notoriously well-traveled, saw the message as a means to try and keep road fans out of Little Caesars Arena, but a spokesperson with the Pistons told the New York Post that the restrictions were an effort to prevent ticket brokers from scooping up a large chunk of tickets and reselling them for an enormous price increase.
This is nothing new for the Knicks and their fans, as last year’s first-round matchup with the 76ers saw New York fans invade the Wells Fargo Center for games three and four, resulting in Sixers ownership purchasing 2,000 tickets to games six in their own arena to give to Philly fans to try and prevent another Knicks fan takeover. New York went on to win that game six matchup, eliminating the 76ers in the process.