MW This Philly man has spent over $18,000 buying almost 100 Sixers-Knicks tickets for out-of-town basketball fans

By Weston Blasi

Fans need a Philadelphia ZIP Code to buy tickets to the Sixers-Knicks playoff series in Philly this weekend

New York Knicks fans are finding creative ways to buy tickets to this weekend's playoff series in Philadelphia.

The hottest number in New York this week is a Philadelphia-area ZIP Code.

After the Philadelphia 76ers limited sales of tickets to their upcoming playoff games against the New York Knicks to residents of the greater Philadelphia area - proven through credit-card billing addresses - some locals have been selling their tickets to out-of-town basketball fans.

They include Haitham Ramadan, a Knicks fan living in Philadelphia, who says he has spent $18,483 buying 93 tickets using his coveted ZIP Code. He's kept the tickets from Sixers fans and sold them at face value to New Yorkers cheering for the Knicks. MarketWatch spoke with several people who asked not to be named who purchased tickets through Ramadan.

"It's part of being a fan, especially a Knicks fan," Ramadan, 31, told MarketWatch. "Our fans would do anything to give our team the edge. I like to think having so many fans on the road helps our players feel that support, and so I'm willing to play a part in helping if I can."

Ramadan, a manufacturing materials sales manager and lifelong Knicks fan, moved to the City of Brotherly Love several years ago after attending college in New York City. He said there's been "lots of interest" in these tickets from other Knicks fans, most of whom he's connected with on Facebook and Reddit.

Haitham Ramadan is a Knicks fan living in Philadelphia.

He said that conversations and transactions with those fans have been seamless. Here's how it works: First a fan wires him money using a platform like Venmo or Zelle. Then Ramadan buys the tickets and transfers them digitally to that fan. The lowest get-in ticket prices for Sixers home games reached over $300 earlier this week but have since fallen to $170. Ramadan has been working a tight turnaround, buying the tickets as soon as he receives money from a fan.

So far, he said, he has not had any issues with Ticketmaster $(LYV)$ or his bank flagging his spending activity during this mass-purchasing process.

"The only thing I've had to work around is the eight-ticket minimum, but I'm getting friends involved to help," he said.

The need for a Philadelphia-area ZIP Code applies to the initial group of tickets being sold for the game by the Sixers on Ticketmaster. Once those tickets sell out - which they nearly always do for NBA playoff games - fans can list tickets on other exchanges where the ZIP Code rule no longer applies, typically for higher prices. But Ramadan isn't charging extra for his tickets.

Ramadan said he has no interest in profiting from these ticket sales and transfers - he only wants Knicks fans to repay him by being as loud as they can during the road games this weekend. He's still deciding whether he'll buy any tickets for himself to catch the Knicks in action.

The Sixers aren't the first franchise to use geography as a defensive strategy. Sports teams around the world have experimented with billing requirements or ticketing tied to team membership programs in an effort to keep opposing fans from flooding home games. The policies are common in college football and European soccer, although secondary ticket markets and digital-payment workarounds have often made them difficult to enforce.

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid recently pleaded with Philadelphia residents not to resell their tickets. "Last time we played the Knicks it felt like this was Madison Square Garden East," he said. "So we're going to need the support. Don't sell your tickets."

That has just fired up Knicks fans like Ramadan. "When Embiid mentions us taking over their stadium on national television, it drives more fans to want to do that, to impact the game," he said.

Other New Yorkers have also found workarounds for the ZIP Code issue. Some fans who spoke with MarketWatch said they have purchased prepaid cards that aren't tied to their home address to buy tickets. Others have used security features on their credit cards that allowed them to create temporary virtual cards online with a new ZIP Code.

Regardless of the method, it appears Knicks fans are making every effort to take over Philadelphia's Xfinity Mobile Arena for Friday's Game 3 and Sunday's Game 4.

Beyond the satisfaction of filling up an opponent's stadium, there are also other factors at play. Knicks ticket prices are some of the highest in the NBA, and the cheapest tickets for the next home playoff games are selling for over $500 each on the secondary market.

Philadelphia is a roughly 90-minute train ride from Manhattan - or a couple hours' drive - so paying $170 for a ticket to a game in Philadelphia, even factoring in the cost of a train ticket or gas, could save fans hundreds of dollars over buying a ticket to see the teams face off in New York. For many Knicks fans, this may be one of the only times they can afford to see a Knicks playoff game.

The Sixers announced on Friday morning that the team would be giving away 500 tickets to local fans working in the medical and education sectors, in their latest effort to fill the arena with their own fans.

The Knicks are currently up 2-0 over the Sixers in the series after playing two games at home in New York. The next game is Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern time and is being shown on Amazon Prime (AMZN).

The Knicks are psyched about having support on the road. "Good thing about New Yorkers, man, they're persistent," Knicks forward Josh Hart told the media earlier this week, before Game 1 in this series. "They don't care, bro. They're going to do it."

Ramadan agrees. "There's a fun aspect to attending as a visiting fan," he said.

-Weston Blasi

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May 08, 2026 11:35 ET (15:35 GMT)

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