With the ever-changing landscape in college sports, it should come as no surprise that programs are getting creative with how to fund new intitiatives.
A new report from Sports Illustrated says Colorado explored funding their NIL through Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Former Colorado football special teams coach Trevor Reilly says he lobbied Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) for Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) funding for the school’s 5430 NIL collective. He told Sports Illustrated that there were no bad feelings between anyone with the program, but rather he was at odds with a few people in Colorado’s administration.
Reilly said he spent time in the Middle East this past holiday season to lobby on behalf of CU football. Sports Illustrated reviewed a copy of what Reilly says was in his resignation letter to CU athletic director Rick George and Deion Sanders.
“The arrangement was that, because I did all the NIL work at Jackson and got us through, you guys would pay me a modest salary and make me the Special Teams Coordinator, which should have freed up time for me to handle NIL activities,” Reilly wrote.
“You paid me $90,000 a year and let me handle special teams. I did all this work in your name and was told to pursue it. I burned through all my contacts in my Mormon community, which is worth about $3 trillion. Now, I can’t get these people to answer my calls because I just found out today that none of my endeavors will happen.
“I even went to Saudi Arabia and got a meeting with the Saudis, who were interested in pursuing business. I have email receipts to prove it, and you guys let it fall flat on its face.”
As Sports Illustrated notes, in the letter Reilly said he acted on his own accord trying to pull in donors. “I did nothing illegal and was trying to help Colorado the best way I knew how.” Sports Illustrated reached out to Colorado Athletics who didn’t comment on Reilly’s trip to the Middle East.
The Saudi government has been controversial with its role in the sports world, most notably being the lead backer of LIV Golf, which has taken many of the top players from the PGA Tour. The PIF also owns several professional soccer clubs outright, along with stakeholder rights in many others, including Chelsea and Newcastle United.
The PIF is estimated to exceed one trillion dollars in value. So depending on a potential investment in Colorado Football, or any other program in the future, would trump the NIL of any program in the nation.
So while there is nothing illegal about what Riley was doing, the Saudi involvement in professional sports has been a controversial one.
As for Colorado football, the Buffaloes open their season next Thursday against North Dakota State. Kick off is set for 6:00 p.m. local time.
