By Alfred Branch, Jr.

Ticketmaster, after being contacted by New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo's office this week, lifted the Florida-only restriction on ticket sales for Sunday's NFL playoff game between the New York Giants and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The move paves the way for New York and New Jersey residents, who had been shut out of buying tickets from Ticketmaster, to buy tickets to the game, which had not yet sold out. Tickets were available however, from ticket brokers. Florida has a law on the books to protect its some of its sports teams from out-of-state residents buying up tickets to games in the state.

"It has come to our attention that Ticketmaster had restricted sale of tickets for the upcoming New York Giants versus Tampa Bay Buccaneers football playoff game to be held in Florida this weekend. The Ticketmaster restriction allowed only Florida residents to purchase tickets.

We believe Ticketmasters’ restriction raises significant legal issues and was causing consumer frauds in schemes to circumvent the restriction. We contacted Ticketmaster about our concerns," Cuomo said in a statement.

"Ticketmaster has agreed to immediately eliminate the Florida residency restrictions for purchasing tickets which will now be open to New York and New Jersey residents, as well as other states’ residents.

Ticketmaster agreed to immediately change their website to allow such sales to take place.

We thank Ticketmaster for its cooperation," the attorney general added.