Michigan’s team trip to Rome in April was not cheap, as you could imagine.
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said on Tuesday that the total cost for the trip is expected to be around $750,000-$800,000.
“It’s going to come in around $750,000, $800,000,” Manuel said at a golf tournament Tuesday, according to The Detroit News’ Angelique S. Chengelis. “Waiting on a few numbers, so we don’t have it final, final, but it will be around 750, 800.”
Manuel then used the trip as an argument for why college athletes don’t need to be paid.
“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.”
The cost of the trip was covered by an anonymous donor. The football team wasn’t the only one to make a trip abroad; the Wolverines’ tennis team went to France, and the women’s basketball team went to Italy.
The players used the trip as an opportunity to bond and even practice. It was somewhat of a reward for the players after they completed their finals.
