Deion Sanders calls on Rose Bowl to reimburse players after alleged jewelry theft during UCLA game
Pasadena police are investigating the alleged robbery during Colorado's loss Saturday night
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders would like Colorado players to be reimbursed for what was allegedly stolen from the team’s locker room during the Buffaloes’ loss at UCLA on Saturday night.
Pasadena police are investigating after Colorado players were filmed after the game reacting to the alleged theft of jewelry and other items from the visiting locker room. Early on in his news conference on Tuesday, Sanders made it seem that few, if any, players who had items stolen had those items insured and also said the NCAA needed to take action.
Coach Prime addresses stolen jewelry from Saturday's game at the Rose Bowl. pic.twitter.com/0O3roGtBoP
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) October 31, 2023
“I think that’s a travesty and I would expect the NCAA to do something about that,” Sanders said. “These are college kids. I’m pretty sure they don’t think about insurance at this point, at this juncture in their life. We’ve talked about NIL and how to really maintain their finances, we’ve pretty much given them financial planners and given them the resources for that. But the insurance part of it, we slipped. And we didn’t really educate them on that.
“So I wish — I know the kids will be forthright in what was stolen and some of our staff members as well. And all that stuff should be replaced. This is the Rose Bowl. They say the granddaddy of them all, right? I’m sure granddaddy has some money. Grandpa should have some money to give these kids. I’m going to have a list made out from these young men and I know they’re going to be truthful about what they lost so we can try to get that back for them.
“They may not be able to get the items back but we should be able to reimburse them. That was unbelievable. But I did hear the home team was robbed as well. So I don’t know — but I did hear that. That don’t make no sense when you’re out there ballin’, playing your heart out and you get robbed at the same aspect.
“So I hope we can do something about that, NCAA. You do something about everything else, do something about that. When it comes to kids and regards to the kids, NCAA you do something about everything else. Do something about this one.”
It’s unclear how the NCAA could and would take action regarding a locker room theft, or how the Rose Bowl game would be involved in a UCLA home game at Rose Bowl Stadium. There are likely surveillance cameras outside of the locker rooms at the stadium. Any footage from those is undoubtedly part of any criminal investigation.
The alleged theft would be at least the second time in the last three seasons that a team coached by Sanders has had items taken from the locker room during a game. In 2021, during Sanders’ first game at Jackson State, Sanders said he had items, including his wallet and cell phone, taken from a bag and items taken from his office, though an assistant had stopped the person who went after the items. After that game, Jackson State said it was “thoroughly reviewing” its security protocols and considered the theft an isolated incident.
