from Kavitha A. Davidson of Bloomberg,

These policies have been in place since the first round, but with the Lightning set to take on the Blackhawks in the finals, media outlets in Chicago and elsewhere are starting to take notice. Local radio host Dan Bernstein has written a column denouncing the policy as "pathetic," blasting the opposing team's petulance with his own brand of petulance.

And yet, it's hard not to agree that these restrictions, and the team's justifications for them, are terribly misguided. The limits on opposing jerseys seems to be at best bad sportsmanship and at worst a First Amendment violation. But the practice of restricting ticket sales to certain ZIP codes is perfectly legal and has been employed by other teams and leagues in the past. In 2014, the Denver Broncos limited ticket sales to their AFC Championship matchup against the New England Patriots to fans who live in the Rocky Mountain states. The Seattle Seahawks similarly sold tickets to their NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers to fans in the region, with the notable exception of California. At the time, I wrote that the restrictions made some sense given a recent spate of incidents involving violent attacks on opposing fans.

But the Lightning aren't chalking up these limits to safety concerns; they admit it's to secure the heaviest possible home-ice advantage. "We’re not going to apologize for the policy," Bill Wickett, Tampa Bay's executive vice president for communications, told the New York Times. "We want to create as much of a hometown environment for the Lightning players and our season-ticket holders as we can."

more