North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi visited Saudi Arabia on a fundraising trip in August, the Tar Heels confirmed to Christopher Kamrani and Brendan Marks of The Athletic Thursday afternoon.
Dean Stoyer, North Carolina's vice chancellor for communications, told Kamrani and Marks that Saudi Arabia flew Lombardi over—with the general manager sniffing around potential Saudi investment in the Tar Heels.
Eager to diversify its economy—still primarily based on oil, the commodity that made it one of the world's wealthiest societies in the 20th century—Saudi Arabia has explored a number of recent ventures in the sports and entertainment spaces. Owing to the absolute monarchy's shoddy human rights record, this has attracted criticism in a number of countries.
As Kamrani and Marks noted, Colorado assistant coach Trevor Reilly also previously felt out the kingdom for potential investment.
North Carolina is currently 2-3 under coach Bill Belichick, with a game against California looming Friday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Saudi Arabia Hosted North Carolina GM Michael Lombardi on Fundraising Trip.