The Philadelphia 76ers are throwing up a regional wall around their second-round playoff games against the New York Knicks, restricting public ticket sales for home dates at Xfinity Mobile Arena to residents of the Greater Philadelphia area. Buyers will have their credit card billing addresses checked, and any orders from outside the designated region are set to be canceled and refunded. The public on-sale for those home games opened at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 3, as Sixers diehards and traveling Knicks fans scrambled for a shot at seats in South Philly.
Team posting and checkout rules
On the Sixers’ playoff ticket page at NBA.com, Xfinity Mobile Arena is listed as being in Philadelphia and the notice is blunt: “sales to this event will be restricted to residents of Greater Philadelphia area.” The page explains that residency will be verified using the credit card billing address, and it warns that any orders from buyers outside the specified region will be canceled and refunded. The same posting also notes that single-game tickets for any playoff dates that go unplayed will be refunded by Ticketmaster.
Embiid's plea and the local angle
After Saturday's Game 7 win over Boston, Joel Embiid had a simple message for locals about the Knicks series: “Don't sell your tickets.” He also said Philadelphia had felt like “Madison Square Garden East” during the last Sixers-Knicks playoff showdown, as reported by CBS Philadelphia. That plea, paired with fresh memories of New York fans taking over the building in 2024, helps explain why the team is tightening who can buy seats at the South Philly arena. For many local season-ticket holders, the restriction is framed as a way to protect the home-court atmosphere that players keep insisting matters.
Where to buy and what to expect
Ticketmaster's event page for the Sixers' home dates repeats the same residency warning and lists the scheduled playoff games at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Fans going through the official sale should expect to enter payment details tied to a billing address in the Greater Philadelphia area, and any checkout that does not line up with that geographic rule runs the risk of being canceled and refunded.
Enforcement and the resale question
Ticketing platforms routinely verify billing information at checkout. Ticketmaster’s terms note that “Orders are processed only after a billing address, and other billing information, has been verified,” which gives teams a straightforward tool to shape who can buy in the primary market. That does not lock down the secondary market, though. Resale and transfer options remain open, and platforms such as SeatGeek and others regularly host playoff listings, which can put seats in the hands of non-local fans through resale or ticket transfer. The Sixers’ rule should curb out-of-town purchases during the initial on-sale, but it does not guarantee that every seat in the building goes to a local.
Quick schedule and contact info
The series opens Monday, May 4 at Madison Square Garden, with Philadelphia's home dates currently scheduled for Friday, May 8 (Game 3), Sunday, May 10 (Game 4), and a potential Game 6 on Thursday, May 14, according to CBS Philadelphia. For ticket questions, the Sixers' playoff page lists contact details for the team’s ticket office and directs fans to Ticketmaster for primary purchases.
