Concession and Merch Sales at Youth Tournaments: What Actually Works
Concession stands and merch tables can double your tournament revenue. Here's the 2026 playbook - QR menus, card readers, and sizing.
Tournament concessions and merch can double your tournament revenue. Most organizers leave real money on the table because they treat it as an afterthought.
Menu engineering
- Hot dog + chips + drink combo at $7
- Premium snack (chicken tenders, pizza) at $9-10
- Coffee + donut combo in the morning for $5
- Gatorade and water at $2 (high margin, high volume)
Payments
Tap-to-pay on every register. Cash slows everything down. The drop-off in sales when you only take cash is well-documented - around 30%.
Merch
Pre-sell t-shirts during registration. Print 15% more than presold. Sell at the tournament for an upsell bump. Offer sizing by age division so every table stays organized.
One platform
SignUpGo includes merchandise sales and entry fees natively. Revenue in, reporting out, no separate systems.