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Michigan Rome trip cost up to $800,000

Jim Harbaugh Michigan football

Jim Harbaugh took his Michigan Wolverines across the pond and into Italy for a trip to Rome this past spring, and the price tag for this venture is staggering.

According to Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the trip cost anywhere between $750,000 to $800,000.

“It’s going to come in around $750,000, $800,000,” Manuel said, via Angelique S. Chengelis of The Detroit News. “Waiting on a few numbers, so we don’t have it final, final, but it will be around 750, 800.

“It will be about $5,000 to $6,000 a person, so it was a great investment. It was just terrific. We pay them through an educational experience like Michigan does all the time. I don’t think about it in terms of paying our athletes but if people want to say we should give something to our students of value, I can’t think of a better way to invest in them for their lifetime and their experience.”

Thankfully for the University the entire trip “was covered by an unrestricted financial gift by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous.”

No wonder Manuel isn’t stressing the money.

Harbaugh was thrilled with the trip afterwards, and he recently said the trip “Still got a glow about it.”

The University is planning other such ventures for its student-athletes in the future. No doubt, this type of trip is great for recruiting purposes, and we wonder if the NCAA will do anything to put an end to them in the future.

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