--"It's kind of tough for (vendors) to see 15 guys sitting in the food court eating food they brought in from the outside," Bersin said.---
The food court is there for customers to eat food they bought from the vendors.
Not to provide a place for people to play chess inside.
Find a community center if you want to sit at a table all day and play chess inside.
The mall is renting space to people who hope to sell things. My guess is that at least some of the chessplayers occasionally need something that is for sale at that mall or elsewhere. Chasing them elsewhere is foolish.
The mall nearest where I live did something similar. A "Park and Ride" had been established there. Except at the height of the Christmas season, no shopper ever would come remotely close to the "Park and Ride" area. But now (after 20 years or so) they have severely limited the number of spots commuters can use all year long. Now showing up there around 8 AM is a crap shoot. And just as bad they don't allow the busses in at all after 11:30 PM. So I don't go to that mall anymore as a reaction to their stupidity. (And I'm not even a commuter, but I did have to walk through the snow one night a mile or more to retrieve my car when I had to take a later bus back from the City.) And just like all those commuters who might have stopped in to buy something on their way home, I buy nothing there.
ML/NJ
And I bet you'd be opposed to building one with taxpayer money.