$5,000 to $6,000 a person for Rome Trip
"Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said the football team’s trip to Rome in late April will wind up costing between $750,000 and $800,000, all of which was covered by an unrestricted financial gift by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous."
Also of note:
"The Michigan men’s tennis team went to France for a week and played in tournaments and dropped by the French Open. The women’s basketball team is going to Italy in August."
Good.
About how the fact it was an unrestricted donation and didn't "pay the players" made it superflouous. I would punch that writer in the face. I spoke to a few of the players I know casually since they returned, and they would not trade that trip for a sum of money. The experiences were priceless for many of them, especially those who did not leave the country before heading to Rome. Haters gonna hate, but as Harbaugh said, this Rome trip was one of the greatest things this team could have done away from the football field.
Who is anyone to tell a donor what they can and cannot do with their money? Shame is that complaining about anything will produce an article nowadays. Everyone has to have a "voice" about everything.....yawn
and think: "What am I going to write about today?". They skim the headlines, think of a negative twist, and hit the keyboard. All the want is the clicks.
Aaron Gordon should be ashamed of himself.
My only fear about the Rome trip is that the non-rev sports might get short shrift, leading to (i) feelings of being second class citizens in the student-athlete community and (ii) potential Title IX problems. It's great that the wealth is getting spread around.
To be clear, I'm a fan of the football team taking this trip. I just want other student athletes to enjoy similar experiences. (Although the experiences will never be "similar" given that our bat-shit [in a good way] head football coach impacts the experience in ways other coaches won't.)
Do you feel this conflicted when the men's basketball team goes to Hawaii or the Caribbean (which it does about every other year)?
The trips to Hawaii and the Caribbean were business trips. I doubt the team had much time to go sight seeing or go to the beach.
They have time to do touristy things. I remember Josh Bartelstein writing about their leisure activites during a trip on the blog he used to have.
Do you really think we would go to the expense of traveling to Hawaii, or staying at a resort like Atlantis, if there were no time to enjoy it?
you mean the non-revenue sports that are funded by the football program?
Not sure why they would be upset about it?
there's nothing prevent a donor paying for any other sports teams to go overseas, nor any rule preventing them from seeking sponsorship to go overseas.
Let's be honest: guys on the Olympic (I.e. non-revenue) sports teams already know how it goes. They don't draw 100,000 fans per competition.
Nevertheless, if there are wealthy donors who wish to pay for a trip for a non-revenue sports team, nothing is stopping them.
That'd be pretty cool if an alum/donor wanted to throw, say, $7.5 million or so at the university to attach their name to the head badminton coach...or even just $1 million to a badminton defensive coordinator.
There is a reason that most of us would pay hundreds (sometimes thousands) every year to watch football and basketball but wouldn't fork out $10 to watch other sporting events.
They gave the Pope Jordans. Can you really put a price on that kind of eternal salvation?
I don't think so.
should consider catering a dinner to the Vatican.
It's in the other thread.
for the seating info. I see what you mean regarding the location of Michigan's seating allotment. Not much better than the old bleachers.
Alternatively, he could try and drum up some interest for "Ditka's On The Square". I mean, think of the lunch rush on certain holidays - that alone has to make it worthwhile.
Of course, I don't know the official policy on opening restaurants in the Vatican is, but it might be worth the research.
I would love to see some photos of that old bag in those kicks.
Geez - and I'm not even Catholic
That's quite cheap. Airfare alone was probably in the $1500-$2000 range per player. No idea what hotels they stayed in, but that was probably another $1500-$2000 or so (for a week), maybe a little less. That leaves $1000 or $2000 or so for food, entertainment, incidentals, etc. for a week, which is not as much as you'd think in Rome. In fact, if any of the players snuck out for "a few beers" one night, that $1000 may have vanished in one night alone...
given it's a one week trip to Europe in an expensive city, and presumably includes shipping all the equipment over there too. Amazing there are people with so much money they can plunk down $800K as a donation like that. But it's a good use of the money.
How many of you all think the anonymous donor has the initials J.M.F.H.?
James Mother Fucking Harbaugh?
Claro que si!
Un Latino? VAMOS AZUL, AMIGOS!
Nice! No, no soy latino, pero vivo en latin america. Y me encanta "vamos Azul Amigos"! I had yet to translate cheers into spanish, but I'm liking how they sound.
Excelente! En cual pais vives? Mi esposa es de Colombia, y ella tiene una camisa con "Vamos Azul!" Ella encanta.
John Mother Fucking Harbaugh?
Jack Mother Fucking Harbaugh?
Jay Mother Fucking Harbaugh?
I feel as though I could go on, I think he should clarify.
Hurray Friday!
Has been Stephen Ross.... but we may never know.
Stephen Ross has not been shy about receiving recognition for his donations.
My guess is that it is someone who does not want the donation to be tainted by who he is - i.e. Dave Brandon giving back his severance after he was hired at Toys R Us.
(Minus the Dave Brandon part)
Come on - everything that guy has ever done would suggest he'd be very public about this donation.
Or Maybe even John MF Harbaugh. Then there's no conflict of interest right?
It sounds like a great deal to me.
Try to put a price on the publicity that was generated. They got at least a 10X return on that, alone.
I'm surprised the bill was that low. Guys their size should really be flying 1st class.
Thanks to those who made it possible. Go Blue!
That is a great deal for a week in Rome. Hopefully this can continue but the SEC will probably get the NCAA to ban such trips.
That you lifted this news from Brian's frontpage UV yesterday.
Welcome to the board and good on the school nonetheless!
SpinachAssasin: Thanks for pointing out that Brian covered it on the UV yesterday. I didn't lift it from there (I saw it independently) but I appreciate you pointing it out.
SpinachAssasin: Given that you are correct and also that Brian put the article in a big yellow block quote, I do apologize. My sense is that people didn't see it given the comments, but I can understand people not wanting repetitive content.
I was being a bit snarky about it too, so there's that..
Regardless, a cool story that I'm sure hack writers and Hugh Freeze will find a way to complain about how this is bad for amateurism or some other nonsense.
Happy Friday!
Great experience for all these kids!
GO BLUE!!
for another trip next year. Great stuff!
seams like a pretty good deal to me. Sign me up next time!
Could easily drop that for a team-building excercise. We're liquid enough that I could too if I wished to be poor in my old age, which is sadly fast approaching. Money well-spent. Consider that some of these young people would otherwise never have a glance at the outside world. Money costs pale in comparison with that. Priceless.
If you're not going to pay the student athletes...IMO, this is a solid alternative or at least a good first step.
Can we go back to college football video games now?
If I had an extra $800 grand lying around that I didn't need I'd be happy to donate it to Michigan football and provide the team with the opportunity for another lifetime experience. "Travel broadens," as people are wont to say, and the Rome trip assuredly gave team members a new and widened life perspective. And hey, they're at an educational institution --- isn't a widened perspective one of the things an education is supposed to be about?
Besides, as irrelevant to the issue as it is, $5000 - $6000 is just at the upper per-person range of most 10-day to 2-week tours (Smithsonian, Viking, Road Scholar, and others). So given the extra expense of hauling team equipment and so on, the per-person cost itself was hardly exorbitant.
These kids have had their lives impacted in a very positive way.