Donors for Football Trips Revealed - UM Alums Bobby Kotick & Don Graham
Jim Harbaugh revealed to Detroit News writer Angelique Chengelis the donors footing the bill for the Rome and France trips. They are none other than Activision Blizzard (most notibly responsible for Call of Duty and World of Warcraft) CEO Bobby Kotick and Don Graham, founder of The Graham Group. Both Michigan alums, Kotick paid for the total of the Rome trip and the 2 billionaires split the cost of this year's France trip (sticker price of about $800,000).
does that count?
Next time you play CoD against a Buckeye fan online be sure to remind them what their dollars are going towards :)
Love the idea that opponent fan bases have helped to fund these trips.
Kotick ended up doing just fine and I'm sure the donations are much appreciated, but as a non-graduate, are you still considered an "alum"?
Actually, you can officially be an alum if you have one semester in a degree-granting program. You can even have a uniqname...
http://its.umich.edu/accounts-access/getting-access/uniqnames-accounts/…
"Former students who have completed at least one semester of a degree-granting program are eligible for alumni status. Former students who did not receive this status automatically can request it by contacting Gift & Records Administration."
I merely copied the language used in the article but a quick perusal of the Google machine gives this:
-
a graduate or former student, especially a male one, of a particular school, college, or university."a Harvard alumnus"
My son hasn't even graduated from college yet, and his school still hits us up for donations, frequently. Gee guys, could I perhaps focus on paying his tuition bills as they come due? Maybe he could graduate first?
I'm sure if you donate $10-$15k to UT they will gladly call you an alumnus or anything else you want to be called. Heck, they'll probably call you the Space Emperor if you like.
"call you the Space Emperor" - you better watch your mouth, boy...there's only one Space Emperor
The definition is a graduate or former student, so yes. Though most people refer to it as graduate.
Their generously has afforded these kids a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of them. I love the creativity of the trips. As a fan, there is no doubt that this is a huge recruiting perk as well. It is good to be the leaders and best.
If Jimmy keeps getting these set up per his plans.
gift by these gentlemen and something these players will remember for a lifetime.
I haven't played Call of Duty in a long time, but maybe now I'll start up again. I didn't know the CEO was a Michigan guy.
Very cool and glad to have some transparency on how that got funded.
http://www.thegrahamgroup.com/donald_graham.shtml
and not the Don Graham who is on the Facebook board, and the former Publisher, CEO and Chairman of The Washington Post Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E._Graham
I stand corrected. I'll fix that. Thanks.
I can't imagine he'd have named them if they hadn't given him permission to do so.
Some ingrates might have raised questions about whether the donors or players could or would receive any benefits (inside information, payments to players, tickets, recruiting, etc) so to clear the air on that score they gave Coach Jim permission to reveal their identities. No more Ed Martins!
Very nice and very generous.
A gift the team will always remember and cherish.
"Kotick began his career in 1983 while he was still in college at the University of Michigan,[ when he began creating software for the Apple II with financial backing from Steve Wynn. Kotick credits Steve Jobs for advising him to drop out of college to pursue his entrepreneurial interests in the software business."
...so I think he can bankroll these for quite a while if he wants to:
https://kotaku.com/activisions-ceo-made-28-6-million-last-year-300-times-1825715966
We should have been playing Call of Duty for the inside info... so much time wasted on Counterstrike!
The players probably ought to get some financial compensation considering all the highly paid coaches and administrators who are supported by the football program. But short of that, these trips are a nice perk (regardless of what Amani Toomer thinks). Big thanks to the donors.