The Oklahoma City Thunder are doing their best to achieve a homecourt advantage during the NBA playoffs. To that end, they are limiting ticket sales during the playoffs to residents of Oklahoma and a few neighboring states.
Those attempting to purchase playoff tickets for Thunder home games are met with the following note:
All Sales are INTERNET Only. *** VERY IMPORTANT !! *** Sales to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 2014 Home Playoff Games at Chesapeake Energy Arena, will be restricted to residents of Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside of this area will be canceled without notice and refunds given. **PLEASE NOTE: This restriction does not apply to resale tickets.
That’s bad news for any Memphis Grizzlies fans living in Tennessee who want to purchase tickets for the first-round playoff series between the teams at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
It also seems like the Thunder are one of the only NBA teams using this practice. A check of the Grizzlies, Heat, Hawks, Nets, Pacers and Rockets websites shows that none of those teams are employing a similar practice.
This seems like pretty concrete proof that the Thunder are placing playoff success above everything else, and we love it. They realize that having a good home environment increases the chances of winning, which in turn increases the chances of overall success for the franchise. Nice going, OKC.
H/T Chris Vernon
