From what I understand, though I could be wrong, the rights are contracted out to the highest bidder. The successful bidder then jacks up the prices and provides subpar quality and quantity to make up for the cost of the rights.
True & the contract does change hands fairly frequently. The heavy fee & lighter margin associated with sporadically running a fairly large 'occasional event foodservice' does force the hand of the operator to price items above regular market and their exclusivity isn't protected (to my knowledge) vs many big time sports facilities as I've readily observed people openly bringing in their own food, Tims, McD, Subway, etc for decades. I think the current food&bev operator's pricey fare has been pretty good vs prior operators pricey fare and there may well be an evolving crapload of stipulations and sanctions in the contract nowadays to ensure a decent 'fast-food standard' vs the truly dodgey 'grey burger' grub of even a few years ago.
Not sure if the Rangers benefit from concessions.
The Rangers only benefit from walkup beer concession sales (not at the bar or suites). SB & co have considered buying the food & bev contract to increase revenue (+ benefit from non-game events too) but it's very risky for light return after fees and op cost, especially for a non-foodservice specialist ... despite the prices charged. It's not well understood but the STH shareholder ownership/not-for-profit structure forces the team to be extremely risk averse. There's allowance for having 'continuation funds' to operate, etc very short term as a not-for-profit org but there's no big pile of cash and any notable revenue loss is a huge problem given there's no outside funds or true tangible collateral to backstop a major/ongoing shortfall or take on any debt w/o city co-operation (... ie addition to AUD, etc) outside of scaling way back on expenses and community programs/donations then, if doomed, altering the not-for-profit corp and selling the team.
With the money spent recently to update the Aud I can't see the city spending the millions it would take to build a new arena
Options were considered at times during the upswing since Y2K and the only feasible action was renovation. There's no local/prov/fed money (& it's @ $0 now) for an arena and private patron possibilities diminished as RIM and prior local mogal fortunes came and went. Now attendance is in decline and most nights are well under capacity, despite attendance numbers reported. Maybe in 10-20 years we'll need a big arena but not for an amateur team as main tenant and it may well even be a soccer stadium that attracts the next major civic investment in sport ... ?