Michael Jordan Senior Flight School Charged Middle-Aged Men $15,000 For Experience Of Lifetime

From 1997-2010 during the summer, the Mirage Resort Casino in Las Vegas was the place to be for rich middle-aged men who loved NBA icon Michael Jordan and basketball.

If you were at least 34 years old, had $15,000 to spend and were a Jordan and basketball fanatic, the Michael Jordan Senior Flight School was a dream vacation. The word “was” is important since this experience of a lifetime sadly no longer exists.

The Michael Jordan Senior Flight School was a four-day basketball camp for middle-aged men. It took place in Las Vegas and cost $15,000.

A limo picked up the campers from the airport and took them to the Mirage Resort Casino. There was no official itinerary for the first night, so campers were free to do whatever they wanted to in Las Vegas.

Each camper received a two-bedroom suite and a pair of travel bags filled with various Jordan gifts. According to ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski, the goody bag included a Jordan beer glass, a leather wardrobe bag, three $100 dinner vouchers for the hotel restaurants, cologne spray, two golf shirts, two basketball shorts, a key ring, six pairs of basketball socks, two pairs of Flight School basketball shorts, a pair of Air Jordans and two Flight School basketball jerseys.

Some of the finest basketball minds in the world were joined by Jordan to give the campers basketball lessons. The coaches put the campers through drills to determine who they wanted to draft for their team. There were a total of eight teams made up of 10 players.

Once the games began, Jordan roamed around and sometimes joined a team that was losing. In 1999, when Wojciechowski went to the camp, Jordan joined the reporter’s team since they were down by 20. The Chicago Bulls legend scored 18 of their next 22 points.

However, Wojciechowski’s team — coached by Eddie Sutton — lost in overtime.

While the scrimmage games were fun, the most excitement occurred when Jordan taught the campers one-on-one moves and played against them.

In 2003, Jordan lost a game to John Rodgers, the founder and CEO of Ariel Mutual Funds in Chicago. MJ got a little too relaxed and gave up baskets to Rodgers, who played college basketball at Princeton. This famous game took place a few months after Jordan retired for the final time from the NBA.

The Michael Jordan Senior Flight School ended in 2010. Jordan had decided to focus on his charity golf tournament instead and he also became the majority governor of the Charlotte Hornets.

Camp organizers told Wojciechowski in 1999 that Jordan donated a lump of the money he made from the camp to Colin Powell’s America’s Promise charitable foundation. Jordan also wrote checks for the hotel rooms, food, All-Star coaches, game officials, training rooms and basketball court.

Jordan is 61 now and no longer hosts any camps. The regular Flight School camp for kids closed in 2017.

Arguably the greatest player in NBA history, Jordan won six rings, six Finals MVPs, five regular-season MVPs and 10 scoring titles with the Bulls. He holds career NBA averages of 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists with the Bulls and Washington Wizards.