Ex-Colorado staffer went rogue in seeking NIL assistance from Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund
Trevor Reilly says he traveled to Saudi Arabia and Jordan in an attempt to generate NIL funds for the football team
www.cbssports.com
Ex-Colorado staffer went rogue in seeking NIL assistance from Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund
Trevor Reilly says he traveled to Saudi Arabia and Jordan in an attempt to generate NIL funds for the football team
[IMG alt=" Will Backus
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By Will Backus
Aug 22, 2024 at 4:22 pm ET•2 min read
USATSI
Former Colorado special teams coordinator Trevor Reilly, who resigned ahead of the Buffaloes' fall camp, told Sports Illustrated that disagreements with Colorado's administration over the handling of the program's name, image and likeness strategy drove him to move on from his position.
"According to Trevor Reilly himself, he acted on his own accord and is no longer an employee of the university," a Colorado spokesperson told CBS Sports' Richard Johnson.
In his resignation letter, dictated to Sports Illustrated, Reilly claims that he tried various avenues to raise funding, including a trip to Saudi Arabia to meet with the Public Investment Fund, which established LIV Golf and is part of an investment group that owns Premier League club Newcastle United.
"You paid me $90,000 a year and let me handle special teams," the letter reads. "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," the letter continues. "I have email receipts to prove it, and you guys let it fall flat on its face."
Reilly also said in an interview with Utah-based radio station ESPN 700 that he traveled to Amman, Jordan, to meet with the Jordanian government during the 2023 holiday season and spent time with the Saudi Tourism Authority during his venture to Saudi Arabia.
"I spent two months and a lot of my own personal money and a lot of my time I sacrificed," Reilly said. "I spent Christmas in a Turkish bathhouse in Amman, Jordan. Saying hi to my kids, 'Hey, I'll see you in a couple weeks.'"
Reilly, who joined forces with Deion Sanders at Jackson State in 2021, emphasized that he did not take issue with Sanders or his staff. Colorado has not yet responded to a request for comment from CBS Sports on Reilly's claims.
According to Reilly, most of his grievances come from working with Blueprint Sports, which helps in operating Colorado's official NIL collective, 5430 Alliance.
"They're Wall Street people. They don't know football," Reilly said. "Football is a different language. All of you out there who played college football, or have been around it as big-time fans, you know that the language and the way that we operate and the commitments and the time, it's just a different animal. You don't go home at 5 o'clock. We work on Saturdays and Sundays."
Blueprint works as a collective management service for over 25 NIL collectives around the nation, including Penn State, Arkansas and Arizona. Blueprint Sports CEO Rob Sine told The Coloradoan in March that it was hoping to raise $8 million for Colorado's football budget in 2024.
