Michigan AD says spring football trip to Rome cost $750-800K

The bill is in for Michigan's spring trip to Rome, and it isn't cheap.

The Wolverines took a much-publicized jaunt across the pond this past April for spring practice, and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel confirmed to Angelique S. Chengelis of The Detroit News that the team's bonding experience came with a hefty price tag.

“It’s going to come in around $750,000, $800,000,” Manuel said. “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," Manuel added. "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.”

Those of you who are concerned with how the university is planning to foot this bill, fret not. A donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, will be covering the costs as part of an unrestricted financial gift, according to Chengelis.

“We utilized the money he gave us,” Manuel said. “It was an unrestricted donation.”

As far as head coach Jim Harbaugh is concerned, more universities should be following Michigan's lead when it comes to trips such as this.

“I feel like this is something that should be done by others,” Harbaugh said following the trip. “I think people should see we’ve done this and just how good it’s been for everybody concerned. And it should be experienced by others. Once people see somebody do something then they know it’s possible and that there’s a path to do it."