Sports Illustrated reports that the former University of Colorado Buffs football coach has contacted Saudi Arabian officials to secure funding for the school’s 5430 NIL organization.
Trevor Riley, who resigned as special teams coordinator on Aug. 1, told SI that he traveled to the Middle East during the holidays as a representative of CU football and lobbied the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) for financial assistance with name, image and likeness rights, a ploy that ultimately failed, SI reported.
The University of Colorado athletic department released a statement Thursday afternoon regarding the reports, saying, “Trevor Riley himself stated that he acted on his own initiative and is no longer an employee of the university.”
The newspaper said it obtained a resignation letter sent by Riley, who previously worked with CU head coach Deion Sanders at Jackson State, to CU athletic director Rick George that mentioned the trip to Saudi Arabia.
“The arrangement was that because I did all the NIL work in Jackson and led us to success, you would pay me a moderate salary, make me your special teams coordinator and allow me time to work on NIL activities,” Riley wrote in the report.
“You paid me $90,000 a year, put me in charge of a special team, I did all this work in your name and I was told to keep doing it. I exhausted all my connections in the Mormon community, worth about $3 trillion, and now these people are not returning my calls because today I learned that none of my efforts are going to come to fruition.
“I went to Saudi Arabia and met with Saudis interested in doing business with them. I have email records to prove it, and you totally ignored it.”
NIL organizations are nonprofit organizations that operate independently while partnering with universities and their college athletic departments.
In late March, CU consolidated its NIL operations with the announcement of the 5430 Alliance, which merged two organizations into one. The Alliance combined Buffs4Life, which is for student-athletes in all sports, with the 5430 Foundation, which is solely related to the football program.
“This partnership offers potential donors the opportunity to give through membership programs that fit every budget,” the university explained in a news release.
PIF is no stranger to sports investments.
The sovereign wealth fund established LIV Golf in 2021. It has also bought English soccer club Newcastle United, launched the Saudi Professional League and invested in boxing promotions, cricket and other sports ventures.
The case has ties to Saudi Arabia’s royal family, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is accused of brutally murdering Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey.
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First published: August 22, 2024 at 8:20 pm
