Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Report: Kentucky’s Bahamas trip cost nearly $800,000

John Calipari

AP

AP

Kentucky’s trip to the Bahamas back in August, the one where six exhibitions against a pair of national teams and a French professional club were broadcast on national television, turned out to be quite an expensive trip for the the University.

According to a report from the Louisville Courier-Journal, the price tag was a hefty $792,845.68, more than five times what North Carolina paid for a week-long trip last summer and 20 times what it cost Portland State.

Included in that bill? Flights, food and rooms for the Dominican national team, the Puerto Rican national team and Champagne Chalons-Reims Basket, the club team from France; a $1,550-per-night suite for head coach John Calipari; and a reception dinner -- with an open bar -- that cost $23,855.50.

If we’re being fair, not all of that came out of Kentucky’s pocket. There were 57 boosters that donated $6,000 a piece in exchange for flights, lodging and tickets to the games. They also got a cut of the ticket revenue, meaning that the university “only” shelled out $431,836.10, which was actually more than a grand under their budget.

Must be nice to be a Kentucky basketball player.