Basketball programs do this all the time, they go overseas over the summer and play pro teams. Harbaugh is merely bringing that to a new sport. I don't have a beef with it, it is a good educational experience for the kids, and brings much needed PR to the program.
From a cost and logistics perspective, the difference between basketball and football when doing something like this, it's like the difference between night and day. You can find lots of places to play basketball. Basketball is a huge deal in Europe. All kinds of leagues that are well followed. Football? Zero, zip.
Think of the logistics and just finding somewhere to practice that's decent. And think of how many people you're schlepping around. 100? Somewhere around that number.
The only way this makes sense, is if somehow Harbaugh thinks this is going to massively help recruiting. It is not going to help his current football team in any way shape or form.
Just 60 or 70 tired kids getting rushed around to different sites and having practices in between. Most of them are too young to even appreciate or enjoy Europe, especially when they're getting rushed around in a crowded bus from place to place. . All it's gonna do is make them exhausted and cranky.
Also, it's not worth the cost. My guess is a trip like this with all the people involved, we're talking over $1 million. Probably much more than that.
