Mitchell Athletic Booster Club busier than ever after one year in new facilities
· Yahoo Sports
Sep. 11—MITCHELL — Now in its 11th year, the annual Kernel Bowl is the busiest home date on the Mitchell High School athletics calendar, with four sports hosting games on the same date.
Behind the scenes, not shying away from a jam-packed day of competition, is the Mitchell Athletic Booster Club, which is back at work for 2026-27 after a big, busy past 12 months.
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With the completion of the new Mitchell High School building in 2025, several athletic events relocated from the Corn Palace to the MHS gymnasiums, giving the MABC an opportunity to operate its own concession stand at more events and raise more funds than before.
"We were thrilled with the outcome in our first year at the new athletic facilities," said MABC vice president Jen Bradley. "We knew there would be a significant increase, and there was, and now we've gotten through some of the learning and growing pains to make everything go flawlessly."
During the MABC's fiscal year, which runs July 1 to June 30, it recorded $132,433 in concessions income for 2025-26. That more than doubled the figure of $61,783 from 2024-25, the final year of the old MHS building. Net profit also grew by nearly three times, from $22,754 to $64,546.
Profits go back to Mitchell High School's 21 sports, meeting needs ranging from everyday equipment to supporting technology as well as contributing to larger-scale athletic projects. MHS recently began updating its weight room equipment, for which the MABC provided $125,000.
In the first year of the new MHS building, the athletic facilities hosted 19 events that had other homes in the past. Those included the annual cheer and dance invitational, 13 nights of basketball between MHS and the Class A and B SoDak 16s, two region wrestling tournaments, the state gymnastics championships and two middle school volleyball events. Notably, the MHS Cheer and Dance Invitational ranked as the No. 2 overall event for concessions sales in 2025, behind only the Kernels' Homecoming football game, according to activities director Cory Aadland.
"It's been a lot of fun, and, I think, even better than I could have hoped for," Aadland said. "In general, it's been a really welcome change, and, obviously, there are some significant improvements to the offerings and experiences that we are able to host."
The most significant challenge the MABC faced in its first year was coordinating volunteers for so many new events. MABC concessions are all volunteer-based, and the student-athletes are expected to help out, too. The new calendar has prompted a few minor tweaks to how the MABC has traditionally operated, including adding incentives that allow other sports programs to receive a percentage of the proceeds from some of the largest events. That starts with the Kernel Bowl on Saturday, which Bradley noted is "absolutely our biggest one-day event for the booster club."
Although not all 19 added events from last year will be annual, many are expected to become permanent additions to the MHS athletics calendar. As such, the MABC's average annual income is expected to increase significantly from what it was before the new MHS facilities. With those funds, the MABC looks to further expand its impact on all the athletic programs as well as its scholarship program.
"We're looking forward to helping with those wish list items," Bradley said. "The booster club can come in and help with things that (the student-athletes) might not get from the school funds. We're hoping that, in the coming years, we'll be able to add to that a little bit more with the number of events increasing. We want to have the best of the best, because at the end of the day, it helps our kids."