Coming off a nine-loss season, the Colorado Buffaloes were hit with a mass exodus through the transfer portal, more than 35 players departing, including key contributors like wide receiver Omarion Miller and safety Tawfiq Byard after just one season. What followed wasn’t just roster instability, but a growing crisis of confidence among the very boosters funding the program’s survival.

“But it’s not all about the NIL (Name/Image/Likeness),” Colorado’s alum and booster Dan Stroh said to columnist Sean Keeler. “It still has to be about the fans. It has to be about the university, your teammates, and the community. The NIL and the transfer portal have taken all that out. It’s all about ‘me’ and ‘How much money can you give me?”

Colorado has seen more than 35 portal exits this season, losing top players like wide receiver Omarion Miller and safety Tawfiq Byard. Both just spent one season with Colorado and entered the portal. The investment that boosters made in them went straight into the vein. That instability is just intensifying Dan Stroh’s concern even more.

“We’re not just going to write checks and hope (the players) come,” Stroh said. “You give them that check, and the guy’s gone tomorrow. To hell with that. That isn’t happening to me. No allegiance, no money.”

The concern lies in the major financial deficit the team is facing. Reports indicate Colorado is facing a potential $27 million budget deficit, which is largely driven by the NCAA vs. House settlement that requires $20.5 million in revenue-sharing payments to players. Then comes another stress. Deion Sanders’s hefty salary jumped from $4.3 million in 2024 to $10 million in 2026 and $11 million in 2027 and 2028.

Now, to tackle those concerns, Colorado did hire Fernando Love, whose primary task centers on navigating rising costs tied to NIL, revenue sharing, and unrestricted player movement while keeping CU competitive in the Big 12. His New Mexico ties can be an advantage in bringing in donors and sponsorships. But the concern is still there.

Players are now making moves for money, and any other Big 12 program, like Texas Tech, which is already loaded with top boosters like Cody Campbell, can lure away top players. That disloyalty is pushing donors like Stroh away. He and his wife, Debbie, invested a lot in Colorado’s athletics for nearly four decades. But this new transition is not sitting well with them. Even another CU booster, Harry Devereaux, agreed on the same.

“All of those places have deep-pocketed billionaires obsessed with their program to buy players,” Harry Devereaux said. “Or whatever they’ve got to do. And they’ll do it.”

So, with donors hesitating to invest in Colorado’s roster, another major stress sits right on Deion Sanders’s shoulder. But that’s not the only stress that’s hitting them.

Deion Sanders draws possible NFL interest

Deion Sanders is working hard to bring stability to Colorado after a 3-9 season. Bringing back new faces after massive portal exits and trying to hold them all together. But despite all his moves, his name keeps popping up on the NFL job list.

As speculation swirls around Sanders joining the Las Vegas Raiders after the team fired Pete Carroll. Sanders has built a reputation for transformative coaching, first leading Jackson State to a 27-6 record over three seasons. Then improvise Colorado taking them to their first bowl game since 2020 in the 2024 season.

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Looking at that momentum, FanSided’s Nick Villano makes a case for Deion Sanders to join the Raiders.

“What’s one guy who can get Crosby and the rest of the league excited to stick in Vegas? Deion Sanders,” Villano said. “Yes, obviously, the team that has his son has a head coaching opportunity, but that doesn’t feel like the right fit. Sanders can come to a team in Vegas that needs a foundational rebuild. Sanders did that in Colorado, and it came with better results than he came in with. Honestly, Mark Davis would take that right now.”

His relationship with Davis makes him a perfect fit for the job, and he can be the one drawing most attention to the program, too. But let’s not forget the move brings in a lot of risk, too.

First, the 2025 season’s chaos and lack of NFL experience can very well make this decision the worst move ever for the Raiders. On top of it, Sanders himself has denied all the rumors of joining the NFL. So, for now, the chances are thin, but there’s still a possibility that things might turn in the future.