SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Ticketmaster and the San Antonio Spurs moved Saturday to reverse a weekend of confusion and assure New York Knicks fans that their tickets to Game 5 of the NBA finals would be honored, after a late-night report sparked panic that fans traveling from New York would be locked out of the San Antonio arena.
The episode began when US media outlet TMZ reported Friday night on a Ticketmaster note posted on its website for the game. The note said purchases from fans whose billing ZIP code fell outside a 150-mile radius of the San Antonio arena — the Frost Bank Center — would be canceled and refunded without notice. The restriction, which the Spurs confirmed has been in place since the NBA playoffs began in April, is intended to give local fans a better shot at scoring seats to high-demand games. But its timing — a report hours before a game that could decide the NBA championship — and its reach — the trip from New York City to San Antonio — made Knicks fans who had already bought tickets fear they would be turned away.
By Saturday morning, the backlash had drawn the top two elected officials in New York.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul posted on social media: “Knicks fans finally get within one game of a championship and their reward is having their tickets canceled?” She later said fans who had bought seats should be able to keep them. “Until then, on behalf of Knicks fans everywhere, I’m calling foul,” she wrote.
New York Attorney General Letitia James demanded the Spurs remove the policy and allow “anyone who can buy tickets for tonight’s game to be able to attend.” After the Spurs confirmed the reversal, James wrote: “I’m glad our Knicks fans will be able to attend the game tonight in San Antonio. Go Knicks!”
Ticketmaster said in a statement Saturday that no tickets purchased on its platform “have or will be canceled.” A Ticketmaster spokesperson told the BBC: “If fans are purchasing tickets on Ticketmaster, they can be confident that they’re getting a real, authenticated ticket that will get them into tonight’s game.”
A spokesperson for the Spurs told the BBC that individuals with billing ZIP codes outside the designated area “are unable to complete a ticket purchase subject to that restriction,” but that “tickets that have been previously purchased are not being canceled or revoked.”
A representative for Madison Square Garden Sports Corp — the company headed by Jim Dolan that owns the Knicks — said in a statement: “Contrary to prior reporting, we’ve confirmed with Spurs ownership that they will not be revoking any tickets that Knicks fans have to tonight’s game in San Antonio and all ticket holders will be allowed in to Frost Bank Arena.”
Ticketmaster said geographic restrictions on high-demand events are common practice across sports leagues, and that residency is established based on a customer’s credit card billing address.