I’ve just been reading this thread. Various posts refer to the cost of concessions as part of a day out at the sporting event.
What are they? To me a concession is the reduction you get in your ticket price due to some personal factor e.g. you’re a student, or an aged pensioner. Clearly that’s not the case here.
Concessions are things that are sold like food and beverages. They are sold at a “concession stand”. I never knew that wasn’t an international term.
Concessions are food and drinks. Souvenirs as well.
They are food and drinks that you buy at the event. The places that sell them are called concession stands, and are generally located somewhere inside the stadium/theater/park/whatever. Some venues allow you to bring food and drinks from elsewhere in with you, some don’t.
That’s where you get your Giant Foam Finger, your Giant Foam Cowboy Hat, and your 8 ounce beer that costs $8.
Thanks for the swift replies everyone. I understand now. It just means food and drinks.
A dictionary is actually helpful here:
The stadium owners or team rents out areas to to other businesses.
I hadn’t known that; it certainly makes sense.
When I worked in a movie theater ages ago, the place where we sold popcorn, soft drinks, and other edibles was universally referred to as the “concession stand.” Since this stand was owned and operated completely by the theater and its staff, it appears that this usage was incorrect. Given how ubiquitous it (“concessions” = “food and drinks”) is, though, I’m a bit surprised to see that neither dictionary.com nor M-W list it.
Or am I missing something? A small victory for the often-mourned prescriptive dictionary, refusing to bow to popular use?
And your Cheesehead!
Well, sort of. By extension. That dictionary definition talks of the concession being the business that sells the food and drink at the stadium. Under that definition the “cost of the concession” would be akin to the cost of setting up the business, leasing the space in the stadium etc. Obviously concession has evolved to mean not just the business itself but, in the plural, also “the products sold by the concession”.
I think we could concede that, yes. 
Not always rented. A friend of my Dad’s jokes he has been to every Buffalo Bills home game and never seen a minute of play. He’s with the Boy Scouts and they have one of the food stands.