00:00The latest incident drawing headlines to North Carolina football does not involve Bill Belichick or his girlfriend, business manager, Jordan Hudson.
00:09Instead, they're focused on the program's general manager, Mike Lombardi, and his August trip to Saudi Arabia.
00:15University officials have confirmed reporting from journalist Pablo Torre that Lombardi made a preseason exploratory fundraising trip to Saudi Arabia two weeks before the season opener.
00:31Statements from the university communications department to multiple media outlets said the visit was at the invite of the hosts and funded by the hosts.
00:41Dean Stoyer, North Carolina's vice president of communications, told the News and Observer in Raleigh the trip was arranged by a Saudi national who is a college football fan and is interested in supporting coach Belichick.
00:53Stoyer said Lombardi did not meet with officials from the kingdom's public investment fund, nor did the fund invest in UNC.
01:01The public investment fund, worth nearly $1 trillion, has poured billions into sporting events and leagues, including live golf, UFC events, Premier League soccer, and motorsports.
01:14The initiative has been criticized by some as sports washing in order to improve the country's tarnished human rights image.
01:21Lombardi's fundraising trip comes at a time when college athletic programs are looking for new money to offset the cost of revenue sharing with players, rising coaching salaries, and debt incurred from stadiums and facility improvements.
01:36The Big Ten Conference is currently debating a $2 billion private equity investment.
01:42Lombardi joined Belichick in Chapel Hill in December of 2024, signing a three-year contract worth $4.5 million.
01:49He is the highest-paid general manager in college football.
01:54Belichick's first season as head coach has not gone according to plan.
01:58The Tar Heels are 2-3 and have not beaten a Power 14.
02:02The rough start and the distractions and headlines involving Belichick and Hudson led to reports that the coach was thinking of leaving in the middle of his first season, which he denied.
02:11Right off the bat, like just some of the reports out last week about my looking for a buyout and trying to leave here and all that, it's just categorically false.
02:21There's zero truth to any of that.
02:25Glad I'm here.
02:26We're working towards, you know, our goals and the process.
02:30That process takes the heels to Berkeley, California, Friday night for a conference matchup with the Cal Bears.
02:37For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis.
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