Give Howard County officials credit for progressive thinking in enacting a ban on bringing outside food and beverages to high school sporting events. The opportunities to smuggle in alcohol are too present and the consequences that could flow from having booze snuck into games are too dire not to make the change that has been enacted system-wide and just in time for the start of the winter season.

However, one aspect of the ban, the prohibition on allowing drinks and foods that are purchased at the schools into the gyms should be reconsidered and modified. While it's appropriate to restrict outside food and beverages into a facility, it seems unreasonable not to let people who have bought a hot dog or a soda at the gym into the gym to consume it while they're watching the game.

A well-intentioned rule likely will have the effect either of long lines during intermissions of games or of keeping people away from concession stands entirely. And since many of the proceeds from those stands help fund school booster clubs or activities, the policy may actually have an unintended consequence of hurting those clubs.