The two sides stuck a confidentiality agreement after arbiter Christopher Droney ruled in January that the league had not colluded despite evidence commissioner Roger Goodell and former general counsel Jeff Pash instructed teams at the March 2022 league meeting to limit guaranteed money in players’ contracts.
Because of the confidentiality agreement, the collusion grievance’s findings did not become public until ‘Pablo Torre Finds Out’ reported on the 61-page ruling by Droney in June.
The NFLPA is appealing the decision, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person was granted anonymity because of the ongoing legal process. The person also said the arbitration ruling had been discussed with player leadership (such as the executive committee, which includes NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin and 10 vice presidents) since January, although ESPN reported Howell simply relayed the NFLPA had lost and didn’t reveal any findings or details. A three-person panel will hear the appeal.
The union hired law firm Wilmer Hale, according to ESPN and confirmed by USA TODAY Sports, to review the activities of executive director Lloyd Howell, who was elected to the position in June 2023. The NFLPA already had legal teams look into Howell’s involvement with a licensing group started jointly by the NFLPA and Major League Baseball Players’ Association called OneTeam Partners that became the focus of an FBI investigation last month for misuse of funds.
ESPN also reported Howell has been a paid, part-time consultant for The Carlyle Group since March 2023, three months prior to his election as head of the union.
The Carlyle Group is one of the few private-equity firms currently approved by the league that could seek to invest in NFL franchises. A union lawyer apparently questioned Howell about his involvement and advised him to resign his position at Carlyle, per ESPN. A spokeswoman for the company said in a statement to ESPN ‘(Howell) had no access to information about the NFL and Carlyle process beyond public news reports due to strict Carlyle information barriers in place’ and was not aware of the request from union lawyers for Lloyd to resign from Carlyle.