John Calipari badly wanted to give his youngsters some valuable experience by scheduling a foreign exhibition tour prior to the 2014-15 season and while he was able to do so in the Bahamas, the price tag was astronomical.
The Wildcats planned an 8-night trip the Bahamas to face the Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic national teams along with French professional team Champagne Chalons-Reims Basket. The trip is not unusual, as many upper-tier programs routinely make week-long trips outside the United States to expose their players to better exhibition competition. However, the total bill was extremely unusual.
In addition to their own expenses, Kentucky footed the bill for each of those three teams, a bill that included airfare, lodging and meals. The total of the trip was just shy of $800k: $792,845.68. The amount included a $24k reception dinner with a band and open bar, $1,550 per night for John Calipari’s suite and meeting space and $73k for airfare for the other teams. For comparison, North Carolina took a similar trip to the area last year and only managed to spend $155k for the entire trip.
UK was able to recoup some of the costs by providing airfare, lodging, food and tickets for 57 donors at a price of $6,000 per person, a number that generated nearly $350,000. However, the total cost of the trip still exceeded $430,000.
Calipari emphasized the importance of the trip in getting his youngsters ready for the season. He better pray that they make a return visit to the Final Four or there will be a lot of fussy folks in the college athletics world and non-sports fans at the University of Kentucky.
Photo Courtesy: KentuckySports.co
