Michigan's Rome trip bottom line estimated to cost between $750,000-$800,000

Mark Snyder | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Recap: The Wolverines' trip to Rome Detroit Free Press' Jeff Seidel and Romain Blanquart recap Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines' trip to Rome.

Spending more than a week in Rome, Italy, was bound to run up a tab.

A Michigan athletics spokesman confirmed today that the cost of the football team's April trip to Rome is estimated between $750-800,000.

The cost will be covered by an anonymous donor, who offered to do so when the plans were being made last year.

The total was first reported by the Detroit News, which got the estimate from U-M athletic director Warde Manuel.

The costs were extensive as everyone had to fly to the destination and be housed in a hotel. A year earlier, when Michigan took its team to Bradenton, Fla., for spring practice, a number of staff members drove and stayed with friends and donors in the area.

Michigan was scheduled to take about 117 players in two shifts, separated because of different final exam schedules, plus 37 family members and 50 coaches and staff members.

The trip was deemed a major success by U-M coach Jim Harbaugh as they spent the first 4-5 days seeing the historic sites of Rome, including attending a papal mass in Vatican City. That's where Harbaugh got to meet Pope Francis and give him a pair of Air Jordans and a U-M helmet.

The team also practiced the final three days at AC Roma's venue.

"It was an incredible trip," Harbaugh said this week on the Rich Eisen radio show. "The best thing I’ve ever been a part of on a football team."

In his mind, the trip reinforced that "not all learning is done in a classroom... not all learning is done on a football field."

Escaping the trip without any international incidents or players who were unruly was one of Harbaugh's proudest aspects of the trip.

He was also pleased that 25-28 players did a study abroad program after the trip, five did overseas internships and 10 traveled abroad as he gave the players the entire month of May to recharge.

Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder. Download our Wolverines Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices.