Rubio spent a million on flights to watch football games

O u.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spent 1.2 million dollars (1.08 million euros) on flights to attend U.S. football games at the University of Florida (UF), where one of his sons plays, according to an investigation.

According to an investigation by The Washington Post, which quotes official records, Rubio, quoted as a possible Republican candidate for the 2028 presidential election, has travelled to at least ten Florida Gators games since taking command of American diplomacy in January 2025.

In all, he made 23 trips to Gainesville, the university headquarters, using government aircraft.

Fifteen of these trips were classified by the State Department as “exclusively personal”.

The cumulative cost of these flights amounts to 1.2 million dollars, based on the data released by the Department of Defense.

Former officials of the State Department told The Washington Post that Rubio's travels far outweigh those of his predecessors.

The Secretary of State and other senior officials are prohibited from flying commercial airlines because of security risks.

The federal regulation requires that public coffers be refunded with a value equivalent to an economic class commercial air fare when making personal travel, a value that represents only a fraction of the actual cost of travel.

However, both Rubio and the State Department refused to disclose the amount that was repaid.

In a press release sent to the newspaper, Rubio defended the journeys and stated that he will continue to carry out them to attend events that he considers important to you, personally, and to his family.

Anthony Rubio, son of Marco Rubio, plays in the Florida Gators, and has played only four games over four seasons on the team.

The Secretary of State, who graduated from the University of Florida, has been a Florida Gators fan since long before his son played for the team.

On October 31, during a meeting of G20 Foreign Ministers held in Atlanta, Rubio led several of his counterparts to attend the game between Gator and Georgia Bulldogs in that city.