A decision by New Mexico State University (NMSU) to suspend concession sales at sporting events is hurting youth sports fundraising, KRQE reported.
The university decided to ban concession stands due to people not wearing masks at sports games, the station reported.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing less and less compliance with our state’s indoor mask mandate during our home games, and fan behavior at Saturday’s game was cause for grave concern for us and among our public health experts,” NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu said in a memo to the campus community, according to a university news release. “As a result, we will no longer allow food or drinks to be sold or consumed during indoor sports events until the mask mandate is lifted.”
Now, youth organizations are losing money that they typically make from fundraising at university sports events. The university's decision could cost a local dance team $2,000 since they are unable to work the concession stands.
“We had games scheduled to work up until the end of March, and since those are now canceled, we had to come up with another means of fundraising because our girls are preparing to go to their state competition,” Joleen Munoz, a Mayfield dance team parent, told KRQE.
The dance team ran the concession stands at the Pan American Center twice each week to earn money for their program, the story said.
The university said the suspension of concessions will remain in place until the state lifts its public health order, the station reported.