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The Wizards restrict playoff ticket sales to local residents only

Only people with a credit card billing address in the District of Columbia, Maryland or Virginia can buy tickets for the games in their general sale

By Albert Lee
Cleveland Cavaliers v Washington Wizards
To improve homecourt advantage, Wizards ticket sales are restricted.
Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images

The Washington Wizards’ season ticket holder pre-sale was yesterday. And today, tickets were available for the general public earlier this morning on Ticketmaster. They do, however, come with a catch The buyer must be a local resident of Washington, D.C. This is defined as someone with a billing address in the District of Columbia, Maryland or Virginia.

This appears to be the first I remember something like this happening for the Wizards. But this tactic is not unprecedented for Monumental Sports & Entertainment and its predecessor, Lincoln Holdings.

It has been routine for the Washington Capitals to restrict NHL Stanley Cup Playoff ticket sales just to people who live or are based in the District of Columbia, Maryland or Virginia. This is especially the case when they played a regional rival like the Pittsburgh Penguins, according to Ian Oland of Russian Machine Never Breaks. Principal Owner Ted Leonsis started writing up computer programs to block Pennsylvania-based accounts from playoff games in 2001!

It will be fun to see a crowd of about 10,000 people out to support the Wizards this weekend!