How Sixers fans are trying to stop another Knicks playoff takeover
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It's the Sixers who need a home pick-me-up in Game 3. Photo: Dustin Satloff/Getty Images
Sixers fan Tracey Ulrich could've sold her playoff tickets for $1,800 each — but she refused to risk helping another Knicks fan get into the arena.
Why it matters: The Sixers are trying to avoid another 2024 blunder, when Knicks fans flooded Philly's arena and turned it into what star center Joel Embiid called "Madison Square Garden East."
The big picture: The Sixers-Knicks rivalry stretches back decades — and it intensified this week when Philly tried to shut out New York fans by requiring playoff ticket buyers to prove they lived in the Greater Philadelphia area.
- The team canceled orders and issued refunds to anyone who couldn't prove their residency. It's a step beyond 2024, when the 76ers' ownership group bought 2,000-plus playoff tickets to keep Knicks fans away.
- The latest strategy came after Embiid urged fans not to resell their playoff tickets — "This is bigger than you ... If you need money, I got you" — for fear Knicks fans would snap them up and overwhelm the home crowd.
- Not to be outdone in the rivalry theatrics, several New York restaurants have removed Philly cheesesteaks from their menus or rebranded them the "Philly SUCKS cheesesteak," the New York Post reported.
State of play: The Sixers have dropped the first two games of the best-of-seven series — a daunting deficit for a team that's never rallied to win a series after trailing 0-2.
- Embiid is expected to be a game-time decision for Game 3 after missing Game 2 with hip and ankle injuries.
Zoom in: Soon after Embiid's plea, Knicks fans appear to have flooded the resale market looking for last-minute seats at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
- TickPick tells Axios that 61% of Game 3 tickets sold on its platform were purchased within a day of Embiid's comments — when average prices ($236) were more than double what they were in 2024 ($110).
- More than half of those buyers came from New York and New Jersey, compared with just 15% from Pennsylvania.
The latest: Ticket prices have cooled since, with the average now about $200, per TickPick.
- New Yorkers accounted for nearly a third of purchases as of Thursday, the ticket marketplace says.
Reality check: The residency ban also shut out loyal Sixers fans who live outside the region. Some were forced to either jump through hoops to attend Game 3 or pay steep premiums on the secondary market.
What they're saying: Ulrich says one of her neighbors in northern New Jersey, who's also a Sixers fan, called in a last-minute favor from a friend with season tickets to secure a seat for Friday's game.
- "There's a lot of people in the middle of the state who have split loyalties," Ulrich, a longtime season ticket holder, told Axios.
Sixers fan Jacob Allen, who lives in the Scranton area, tells Axios he understands why the Sixers implemented the residency requirement.
- He and his son attended one of the home playoff games in 2024 and encountered an overwhelming contingent of New York fans who drowned out every Sixers chant.
"It was disgusting," he says. "We pride ourselves on being the best fans in the world. To see the look on my son's face, he was like, 'Dad let's just leave.'"
The bottom line: Ulrich made a pledge to herself to avoid that happening again this year.
- "I would not have sold [my tickets] for any amount of money. I'm not going to say my family is happy about it."
If you watch: Tipoff is at 7pm, streaming on Amazon Prime.