Report: Lightning ticket policy draws ire of Army captain
The Tampa Bay Lightning are not making friends off-ice during this Stanley Cup run.
In addition to attempting to freeze out fans of other teams, the Lightning has become embattled with one of its season ticket holders.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Army captain Paul Dhillon is attempting to sell his two seats behind the Lightning bench for the Stanley Cup final.
Dhillon, you see, is an assistant professor at the University of South Florida ROTC progam and has to spend five weeks in Fort Knox, Kentucky, as part of a training program.
But the Lightning have blocked his ability to manage tickets online.
Dhillon, who is an avid Tampa Bay fan, and who had been honored by the team in full uniform on the Jumbotron as a "Hero of the Game" last spring, said he never agreed not to sell his seats when he bought the season ticket package or when he re-upped for 2015-16.
"I'm willing to comply with any policy they show me in writing but they're just making up stuff as they go," Dhillon, 32, told the Tampa Bay Times. "I really feel that they're strong-arming me into complying with what the Lightning want."
Lightning CEO Tod Leiweke told the Tampa Bay Times on Friday that the team may have gone too far in Dhillon's case and "perhaps on this our passion got in the way."
"I specifically apologize to this (captain),'' he said, "but I'm not going to apologize for our efforts to make sure this building is our home."
Leiweke said the Lightning does not have a policy that specifically prohibits season ticket holders from selling tickets on a secondary market.
Ultimately, Dhillon was allowed to print, transfer or sell his tickets online again.
