Kentucky’s eight-night exhibition trip to the Bahamas in August cost a grand total of just under $800,000.
According to an open records request by the Courier-Journal, the price tag for the trip $792,845.68, which included expenses for the Wildcats and all three of their opponents.
The school was able to pay a large portion of the bill with $347,047.30 in private donations.
In the end, UK paid $431,836.10, which a spokesman said was actually just under their budget for the trip.
Here is an excerpt:
UK’s own team expenses were eye-opening, too, from coach John Calipari’s $1,550-per night Atlantis hotel suite to a $23,855.50 reception dinner that included a band and an open bar.
The total cost of the trip was $792,845.68. By comparison, an expense report acquired in an open records request showed that North Carolina’s Bahamas trip last summer cost $154,825.91. Portland State, meanwhile, paid a total of $37,714 for its seven-night stay.
“I needed professional-level teams,” Wildcats coach John Calipari said this season. “I needed men. I needed experienced, physical guys that knew how to play. That’s what this team needed, which is different. That’s why most teams don’t do what we’ve just done.”
UK offset some costs by providing flights, lodging and tickets for 57 UK boosters who donated $6,000 apiece, contributing a total of $347,047.30. UK also received $17,962.28 in ticket revenue. Even with those adjustments, the final expenses were $431,836.10, nearly three times more than North Carolina’s entire trip.
UK paid for 18 rooms for the Dominican Republic national team for six nights, 14 rooms for the Puerto Rican national reserves for six nights and 14 rooms for Champagne Chalons-Reims Basket for seven nights—each at $225 per room, per night. It also spent a total of $72,750 on airfare for the three teams, and $100 per day for their individual meal plans, totaling $36,000.
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