Wait, what?
I hadn’t heard of teams doing this before today. Is it the start of a new trend or just a one‑off panic move?
With San Antonio on the verge of elimination in the NBA Finals, Spurs management is using a geographic rule to keep many out-of-state New York Knicks fans from buying tickets to Game 5 of the NBA Finals through Ticketmaster.
On the official Ticketmaster page for Game 5 at Frost Bank Center, it states that sales are “restricted to customers residing within a 150‑mile radius” of the arena, based on the billing address tied to the credit card.
And Ticketmaster also warns that purchases from outside that radius can be canceled “without notice,” with buyers getting a refund but losing their seats.
Ouch!
Why is this happening?
Data from resale platforms showed a trend: A very large share of tickets for Game 5 were being bought by fans with New York and New Jersey ZIP codes, raising the prospect that Knicks fans could flood the building for a potential championship‑clinching game. As a result, Spurs management says they have “taken a number of steps to preserve Spurs fan attendance.”
But there are limitations
New York fans can still get in by buying on resale sites, often at a steep markup, so the measure may blunt but not entirely eliminate a “partial” Knicks fan takeover. Furthermore, the 150‑mile rule only applies to Ticketmaster, the Spurs’ official partner, not to secondary marketplaces like StubHub, SeatGeek, or Vivid Seats, where tickets can be resold freely. In other words, the trend of fans using secondary markets to invade opposing arenas isn’t going away anytime soon.
Warning to Knicks fans: Your Health
If you’re a Knicks fan and find a way to get to the game tonight, you’ve gotta be at least a little concerned about your overall health, especially if New York wins. Will you get beaten up? If so, how fast will you get medical attention? Will folks at the concession stands spit in your soda or fries when you’re not looking? You are clearly not welcome tonight at San Antonio’s Frost Bank Center.
Of course, Knicks management doesn’t have to worry about a lot of Spurs fans trekking to Madison Square Garden because their health, I’m sure, was an immediate concern from the beginning.
Will the Spurs lose money?
Publicly, the Spurs are framing this decision as a fan‑experience move, not a revenue sacrifice, and there’s no indication they’re especially worried about losing money from the 150‑mile rule. Finals demand is so strong that primary‑market tickets are already extremely expensive, and resale prices have soared well over $1,000 for many seats, which means the building will sell out regardless of the geo‑block.
So while a strict radius rule could, in theory, cap some immediate out‑of‑town demand, the combination of sky‑high prices and a hyperactive secondary market means the Spurs can protect their home crowd without meaningfully undercutting revenue—and possibly set a trend other teams start copying if it works.
