After watching an East coast VS West coast college basketball game, it occurred to me: where the heck are these kids going to eat?
The team plus coaching staff and “handlers” must be around 35 people. They couldn’t simply drop in at the local Applebee’s expecting to be served.
How is this dealt with?
In some cases they might rent out a restaurant for their own private use, but I think in most cases they eat out in small groups just like everyone else does.
Depending on the level of professionalism; I would expect top teams to travel with their own cook(s).
Cycling teams certainly do so. I would imagine the benefits of not eating crap a couple days a a week wil be noticeable quite quickly.
I should have mentioned that I wasn’t considering professional teams, but college teams and high school teams when they are on the road. I would expect most pro teams have cooks and nutritionists on road trips to ensure they are getting appropriate meals and not frequenting local fast-food restaurants, although some players may choose to handle feeding themselves.
They don’t exactly just drop in, but someone will call around in advance to restaurants in the area to find someplace to handle a large party. A place like Applebees works pretty well for dinner with enough advance notice. They don’t necessarily set aside a special room. They just make sure there’s enough free tables to handle everyone. Breakfasts are often the free breakfast in the hotel. Lunches will typically be eaten at the event from a to-go order from sandwich shop or whatever.
College and HS teams will frequently have parents attending the event. They’ll volunteer to help out. They may be the ones calling restaurants and picking up to-go orders while the team is competing.
“Fernandez wanted on a roll.”
Exactly!!!
Just hand out the per diem and everybody makes their own dining plans.
Me too, but let’s include them also.
I’ve been at hotels where a track and field and a basketball team were staying. James Madison basketball and South Florida track & field, to be specific.
JMU basketball had a dinner and breakfast catered in the hotel meeting room. Don’t know who did the catering, possibly the hotel itself.
USF T&F went to a mall food court for dinner, the hotel was adjacent to a big shopping mall. We were talking to the athletes as they were checking in. I think there must have been between 50-100 athletes and support staff.
Both times the teams must have flown in because they were more than 500 miles from the school.
When I was still actively coaching HS Speech/Debate, we always tried to make sure there were food options close by the team hotel. If possible, parents would also drive students to places a little further away. But I always looked for places that had free breakfast and a Denny’s across the parking lot.
I played college soccer. Our team simply took over a local restaurant for meals after away games. I’m not sure who made the arrangements, but I assume one of the assistant coaches. We never made our own arrangements or ate in small groups. It was always the whole team eating together.
Oh yes, any my daughter’s robotics team had bagged lunches/dinners from places like Panera and Chipotle when they went on overnight (or multi night) trips. Given that some team members were as young as 14 they wanted to keep things as contained as possible. One of the meets was at a University and they at at the university dining facilities which was super exciting for them 
They can always dine in shifts. Even if a team needs (for some reason) to eat in the same place, is there any reason they need to eat at the same time?
Sure, as long as they have all studied Miss Manners advice extensively.
That’d mean less time available for anything they’d all be doing together as a team. And sports nutritionists have probably studied things like the optimum amount of time before a match to eat.
Where are they going to cook?
Food trucks, restaurant kitchens, portable gas grills.
Check out “Eat. Race. Win.” for a pro cycling team’s strategy.
Having everyone eat together may help with team cohesion.
My daughter plays on her college’s volleyball team. For away matches close enough to drive (or take the subway), they get a meal together before playing (or sometimes after, for early matches).
The coach pays the bill from his expense account. As Division III athletes, it’s probably their best perk outside of early registration for classes (so that they can get a schedule that won’t interfere with practice time). And yes, getting the team together to eat is a great way to help them all bond together.