Our old pal Mike Lombardi just can't keep himself out of the news. Following two reports about how nobody in college football can stand working with him, he is now the subject of another flurry of reports about a preseason fundraising trip to Saudi Arabia.
The news of Lombardi's trip, which took place two weeks before the start of the college football season, was first broken by Pablo Torre. A few hours later, The Athletic provided more details. According to statements provided by the University of North Carolina, Lombardi's fundraising trip was "exploratory," and did not involve meeting with any representatives of the country's Public Investment Fund. Lombardi, according to the university, merely met with a "Saudi national who is a college football fan interested in supporting Coach Belichick."
Although it would be nice to have more details about who exactly Lombardi met with, where they hung out, and what they talked about, the unknowns provide a great opportunity for longtime Lombardi observers to use their imaginations. I've watched and listened to enough of this guy's humiliating television and podcast appearances to sketch a vivid rendering of this trip inside my own head.
You can be absolutely sure that Lombardi stepped off the plane in Riyadh wearing a rumpled suit and a Super Bowl ring he didn't actually earn on his right hand. When he got in the car that would take him to the meeting place, he definitely got his phone out to text, "This is jst like when Tony went to Naples in Soprano," to his son. When his meeting with the second cousin twice-removed of some Saudi prince finally began, you can bet he said a lot of things like, "In college football, there are rebuilding programs and win-now programs. At UNC, we're creating a build-to-win program," and, "In our building, NIL stands for 'Nerves, Intensity, and Laser focus.'" At the conclusion of the meeting, I am almost certain he said something like, "The National Football League is what I call a Learn It League, because if you don't learn from your mistakes, you'll fail."
According to UNC, Lombardi's trip did not result in any financial support being pledged to the football program.
