Colorado
Colorado sought NIL funding from Saudi Arabia’s PIF in unpreceded move
![Colorado sought NIL funding from Saudi Arabia’s PIF in unpreceded move Colorado sought NIL funding from Saudi Arabia’s PIF in unpreceded move](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_8001,h_4500,x_0,y_658/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/buffs_beat/01j5w5szz01qaa9hs0ae.jpg)
Deion Sanders and his Buffaloes staff have been at the forefront of innovative business ideas during his tenure with Colorado. As it turns out, NIL funding is no different.
After resigning as CU’s special teams coordinator on August 1st, Trevor Reilly went on the record about trying to pull in funding for the school’s 5430 NIL collective. He expressed to 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 lobbying Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) for Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) funding on behalf of CU Football. A copy of what Reilly says was in his resignation letter to CU athletic director Rick George and Sanders was reviewed by Sports Illustrated.
“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.”
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.
Some of these “outside the box” concepts are small. Earlier this week, 99-year-old CU legend Peggy Coppom received a one-of-a-kind NIL deal for a “I Ain’t Hard to Find Too” Blenders sleeve. Some players outside the bigger names secure deals with local businesses. But it’s about finding additional funding that will level the playing field for programs like Colorado against powerhouses like Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, and Texas. This could signal the largest outside the box thinking pertaining to NIL funding that anyone has considered. Regardless of fanbase size, boosters and donors efforts, it’s an untapped resource. A supply that could bury the financial abilities of the stronger programs in the country.
It has seemed that Coach Prime’s staff has been busy looking for ways to compete with the larger NIL deals that would seem unlikely from Colorado. That is until considering an option that is not only outside Colorado, it’s outside the borders of America. Reilly on behalf of Colorado considered entering into a partnership with the PIF, which is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. The wealth of riches is near or exceeding one trillion dollars in value. That is a number that levels the playing field immediately and without question or hesitation. CU being funded for NIL through the PIF would render all of those larger programs’ numbers to be inconsequential.
If this sounds crazy, it’s really not. The Saudi government owns multiple international professional soccer clubs outright, along with stakeholder rights in many others, including Chelsea and Newcastle United. They are also the lead backer for LIV Golf, who previously attempted to buy the PGA Tour and partners in ATP, and Formula One.
Just imagine what Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter’s NIL valuations would be with that kind of backing. Even better, imagine what it might look like for the significant contributors who are not named Sanders or Hunter. This could be the sledgehammer that allows Colorado to break through the glass ceiling that would allow them to compete dollar for dollar with the bigger more consistent programs of the Power four.
Where this gets interesting is how it will be received by the masses. To Reilly’s point, there is nothing illegal, ill advised, or even frowned upon. When it comes to NIL, the money has to come from somewhere. In this particular case, it just so happens to not come from someone inside of Colorado. Would it be better if CU alums, boosters or other Colorado interests were the ones funding the NIL deals? Yes. The only question is how will this land for the individual fan.
Rich Eisen was one of the people who was not pleased with the PIF buying into the sports world outside of their own national interests.
“This is Saudi Arabia buying the PGA Tour,” Eisen said on his show. “And also buying the lawsuits going between both entities, the LIV golf tour and the PGA Tour, and dropping those lawsuits. That’s what this is about. The Saudi Prince doesn’t want to be deposed. This has been explained to me by multiple people. How it comes across can be expressed in two words. It stinks. It stinks to high heaven, that’s five words…
“Jay Monahan is quoted as saying ‘LIV is using players and the game of golf to sports wash the recent history of Saudi atrocities.’ And today, what Saudi atrocities? Poof. Gone. How does Rory McElroy feel today? Tiger Woods, who turned down almost a billion dollars? I’m just saying, the Saudis own Golf. Period. End of story. That, for the sports world, is an atrocity.”
Some people will say these are the rules of the game (NIL) and CU is operating within that scope of rules. Others will look at this from a political standpoint and will resist the idea that this is going to be the new normal. Some might even argue that NIL should come only from an American interest. However, if that is how the model should continue, NIL will never be ‘fair’.
If funding NIL deals can only come from the university, sponsors, boosters and alumni, it will never actually be fair. Similar to other unbalanced dynamics in college football, the big dawgs will continue to win hand over fist, while the other 70 percent of college football will have to make due with table scraps. Good, bad or otherwise, NIL funding through the PIF would completely change that dynamic with the snap of the fingers. Don’t forget, If Colorado were to secure funding from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it would be an unprecedented move for college athletics.
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Colorado
Wyndham Clark is trusting the process, and his game could be peaking at the perfect time in Colorado return
![Wyndham Clark is trusting the process, and his game could be peaking at the perfect time in Colorado return Wyndham Clark is trusting the process, and his game could be peaking at the perfect time in Colorado return](https://www.denverpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/TDP-L-BMW-GOLF_2409.jpg?w=1024&h=661)
CASTLE ROCK — Given the way he’s played recently, the hometown crowd could be in for something special if Wyndham Clark is anywhere near the top of the leaderboard here Sunday morning.
Clark, who grew up playing on Front Range courses, is back to play a PGA Tour event in his home state for the first time. He enters the weekend as the No. 6-ranked player on the tour, fresh off an appearance at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
His year started great, had some wobbles in the middle and could be turning around at the right time in the second of three FedEx Cup playoff events — the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club this Thursday through Sunday.
“I’ve gone back to a little bit more of a process. I think I was getting a little too outcome-focused,” Clark said this week. “As I had some early success in the year and was playing amazing golf, I think I just got — just falling short of Scottie (Sheffler) a couple of times and then you’re thinking, okay — I just got too much into winning and trying to break through and win in some of those big events.
“Then I got away from everything that made me successful, and I feel like recently kind of in the last probably four weeks I’ve gotten back to the process of focusing on the things that got me here, playing good golf, and I’ve started to play good golf.”
Clark won for the third time on the PGA Tour at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. That tournament only had three rounds, but his charge to the finish line with a 60 to finish at 17-under-par was a harbinger of things to come.
He has not won since Pebble Beach, but Clark has made Sunday surges up the leaderboard a staple of his recent play. There was a 63 on Sunday at The Travelers Championship in June to finish tied for ninth. Then a 62 at the Scottish Open in July for another backdoor top-10.
Clark missed the cut at The British Open, but his last two events — the Olympics in France and the FedEx St. Jude Championship — have followed a similar script. It’s been a slow start, but a scorching-hot finish.
“I really feel like when I’m playing my best, it’s very process (oriented),” Clark said. “All I care about is my routine, doing the best I can before I get into the ball mentally, post-shot mentally, post-round, before round. That’s all I cared about, and that’s all I judge myself on.
“I think I just crept in a little bit too much of looking at the scoreboard and trying to force things to happen rather than just let them happen.”
Clark said he tries to avoid what is written and said about him in the media, but something about how he played when he scuffled through a 75 in the opening round at the Olympics found its way into his orbit.
That may have provided a little extra motivation. Either way, he went 68-65-65 over the final three rounds and the momentum he felt he was creating was fully restored.
“Even that back nine on that first day, I just hit it in the water and missed a couple of short putts, otherwise it probably would have been an even par or a 1-under round,” Clark said. “We might be talking about a bronze medal if that back nine was a little bit different.
“That definitely was a huge confidence boost for me because I know there was a lot of media talk about me being there and how bad I played and whatnot, and I wanted to prove to myself and my country that I’m a top American player.”
Now he arrives home in Colorado, with a chance to put an exclamation point on what has been a second straight successful season after four years of grinding as a pro. Clark has seven top-10 finishes this year in 18 events, including three of the past five.
When he’s on, Clark is right there with the best in the world — a fact he proved in May 2023 when he won the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club. If he can avoid a slow start at Castle Pines, he might get the chance to lean on a hometown crowd ready to cheer him to victory.
“Obviously what Scottie and Xander (Schaufele) are doing, I think everyone is holding all of us to a really high standard compared to them,” Clark said, referencing the top two players in the FedExCup Playoffs standings. “But it was an amazing year. Last year I was roughly in the same spot coming into this event; I was in fifth. Last year was an amazing year, too.
“It’s been an amazing run of two years, and I’m really pleased, and I’m hoping this is just an upward trend.”
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Colorado
Ski season starts in 10 weeks. Here’s your (tentative) 2024-25 Colorado snow forecast.
![Ski season starts in 10 weeks. Here’s your (tentative) 2024-25 Colorado snow forecast. Ski season starts in 10 weeks. Here’s your (tentative) 2024-25 Colorado snow forecast.](https://www.denverpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/TDP-L-KEYSTONE_DSC3733x.jpg?w=1024&h=683)
What’s harder to predict in August, snowfall at Colorado resorts in the middle of winter or the teams that will meet in the Super Bowl next February?
You might have a good feel for which two teams have the most talent, but what if one loses its star quarterback to a season-ending injury in November? You also might know that La Niña winters often result in above-average snowfall for Colorado’s high country, but sometimes La Niña winters result in well-below-average snow. That’s why meteorologists hedge when predicting conditions before Labor Day. Nevertheless, they try.
“I think the sports analogy is great,” says Alan Smith, a full-time meteorologist for the OpenSnow forecasting and reporting service. “You’re predicting future events, and you’re taking information that you have, but there’s so much information you don’t have, like injuries. You never know if a player on a team is going to suddenly explode that season – or regress.”
Still, anyone with an Epic or Ikon pass can’t help but wonder what kind of winter we will have. Labor Day is less than two weeks away, and the first Colorado ski area openings are apt to come in mid-October, most likely on man-made snow. So Smith provided his tentative 2024-2025 United States Winter Forecast Preview on the OpenSnow website.
Usually forecasts this time of year focus on the fluctuation of El Niño and La Niña in the eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator. Last ski season played out during a weak El Niño. Currently we’re in a transitional “neutral” status, but not for long.
“La Niña is favored to emerge during September-November (66% chance) and persist through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2024-25 (74% chance during November-January),” according to the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service, which has issued a La Niña watch.
What does that mean for skiers and snowboarders in Colorado? Like betting on the Super Bowl this time of year, it’s all about the odds.
“El Niño and La Niña tend to get rated from weak to moderate to strong,” Smith said. “We never know for sure, but the trends seem to be pointing toward a weaker episode this year.”
Smith researched the six most recent weak La Niñas to see how Colorado resorts fared.
“Four of the six years were snowier than average, so that’s pretty decent odds,” Smith said. “However, one of those was well-below average. “That was in 2017-18, a very dry winter. If you expand it out to look at all La Niña years, Colorado does seem to have a boom-or-bust potential with La Niña.
“It tips the odds slightly in favor of being an above-average winter in the ski regions of Colorado,” he continued. “But sometimes the winters that end up below average that are La Niñas can be well below average.”
The winter of 2021-22 was a moderate La Niña and snowfall was decent, featuring a slow start but strong spring snows. The winter of 2022-23 was a weak La Niña that capped off a rare three-year “triple dip” La Niña. That was a fantastic season for Colorado resorts.
“November was cold and snowy,” Smith said of the 2022-23 winter. “It really jump-started the season, and it was consistent all season long — one of the most consistent winters I remember seeing.”
Last winter, under a strong El Niño, was slightly above average for snowfall. Now we get to guess the odds for this winter.
“There’s just so many factors you don’t know,” Smith said. “If you’re just looking at history, the odds tell us it’s slightly better than a 50-50 chance of being an above-average winter. But there’s always going to be that chance it could be a well-below-average winter.”
Colorado’s first ski area opening dates over the past five seasons
2019: Arapahoe Basin, Oct. 11
2020: Wolf Creek, Oct. 28
2021: Wolf Creek, Oct. 16
2022: Arapahoe Basin, Oct. 23
2023: Arapahoe Basin, Oct. 29
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Originally Published:
Colorado
More Heat Across Colorado With Increased Storm Chances
![More Heat Across Colorado With Increased Storm Chances More Heat Across Colorado With Increased Storm Chances](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/08/21/fa0a4a17-4ed4-4198-aa72-ef03db59be70/thumbnail/1200x630/f3c7e9a6ea38d25e9926fc93edbfaf49/ac8f137dbe413f004ea3d5dd6298c509.jpg?v=fd6e213336f58b575c9e836e95546d26)
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