Latest news with #ChristopherDroney
Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lloyd Howell resigns as NFLPA executive director
The NFL Players Association is going to need a new leader. NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. announced his resignation Thursday evening. "It's clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day. For this reason, I have informed the NFLPA Executive Committee that I am stepping down as Executive Director of the NFLPA and Chairman of the Board of NFL Players effective immediately," Howell said in a statement. "I hope this will allow the NFLPA to maintain its focus on its player members ahead of the upcoming season." A message was also sent to the NFLPA membership from the executive committee and was obtained by USA TODAY Sports. It read: "This evening, Lloyd Howell informed us that he is stepping down as Executive Director of the union. We accepted his resignation and are grateful for his service. The Board will convene as soon as possible for a meeting on next steps and will be in touch with our membership soon." Howell had come under intense scrutiny in recent days and weeks following the "Pablo Torre Finds Out" podcast's release of a 61-page arbitration report. In January, Christopher Droney, an independent arbitrator, dismissed a grievance raised by the NFLPA, ruling there wasn't sufficient evidence of collusion by NFL owners. However, the contents of his report included a finding that the NFL encouraged owners "to reduce guarantees in future contracts with players at the March 2022 annual meeting." ESPN had reported that the NFL and NFLPA made an "unusual confidentiality agreement" to keep the findings of the arbitration report secret. "By agreeing to a confidentiality agreement, the union purposefully blocked the players from receiving crucial information about the operations of the NFL," attorney Peter Ginsberg said via ESPN. "The NFL and the union should not be conspiring together to keep important information from the players." NFL CONTROVERSY: In stunning ruling, arbitrator finds league encouraged collusion ESPN reports Lloyd Howell has side job with conflict of interest Further controversy surrounding Howell emerged on July 10. ESPN reported that Howell, in addition to his job as head of the players' union, was working as a "paid, part-time consultant for The Carlyle Group," a private equity firm that the NFL approved to seek minority ownership stakes in its teams. Howell had started the consulting gig months before starting his role as the NFLPA's executive director. He refused to step down from his role with The Carlyle Group after taking the NFLPA job, ESPN reported. "It would be an outrageous conflict for the head of a labor union to have an interest in a third party that is aligned with the NFL," NFLPA's former lead outside counsel Jim Quinn said, via ESPN. "The relationship between a labor organization and the employer organization is adversarial by definition, and as a result, as a leader, you have to be absolutely clear and clean as to having no even appearance of conflict." A representative for The Carlyle Group told ESPN in a statement that Howell "had no access to information about the NFL and Carlyle process" and that she was unaware of the union's request he leave his consulting position. USA TODAY Sports had also confirmed an ESPN report that the NFLPA hired law firm Wilmer Hale last month to look into Howell's actions as the union's executive director. NFLPA: NFL and players union agreed to keep collusion findings secret, per report Lloyd Howell involved in previous legal controversies Prior to Howell's election as the union's new executive director, he served as the chief financial officer for technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton between 2016 and 2022. In July 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Booz Allen paid out a $377 million settlement resulting from a whistleblower lawsuit that alleged the firm had been overcharging the federal government. The Washington Post reported that the whistleblower had notified top executives, including Howell, of the overcharging issue for months. The NFLPA had hired Howell as its executive director just one month before the announcement of Booz Allen's settlement. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lloyd Howell resigns as NFLPA executive director
NBC Sports
24-07-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Bill Polian underscores the influence of the NFL's Management Council on player contracts
The truth often gets told when the topic has changed. In the 61-page collusion ruling, arbitrator Christopher Droney accepted the obvious, self-serving denials from owners and other NFL-aligned witnesses who insisted that the NFL's Management Council does not compel teams to act against their interests. In so doing, Droney ignored strong circumstantial evidence that teams did indeed accept the Management Council's encouragement to restrict fully-guaranteed contracts. In a new article from John Keim of regarding training-camp holdouts, Hall of Fame G.M. Bill Polian said something that undercuts one of the front-line arguments made by the league in defending against the claim that teams did indeed collude. 'You took so many slings and arrows publicly,' Polian told Keim regarding the holdout experience. 'Guys will call up and say, 'Hey, I really empathize with you. This is terrible.' Other people will offer advice: 'Hey, don't cave on this one. This is really important.' On occasion, [NFL] management council will step in.' Wait, what? 'Management Council will step in.' How? When? Most importantly, why? Why would Management Council have anything to say to a team that is holding the rope in a holdout situation? Why would Management Council care if the team blinks on one or more terms that could, in theory, become the start of a new trend? (Such as, you know, the player holding out wanting a fully-guaranteed contract?) Consider this sworn testimony from Giants co-owner and longtime chair of the Management Council's Executive Committee, John Mara, regarding the claim that Management Council doesn't tell teams what to do: 'I'm not going to be told what to do in terms of an individual player contract by anybody from Management Council or by anybody from another club. . . . [T]he thought that I'm going to be influenced by what another owner is saying to me is just absurd.' If that's absurd, it's equally absurd for Management Council to 'step in' during a holdout. And let's apply common sense here. Why would Management Council step in? Would it be to talk sense into a given team in an effort to get them to cave to the player's demands? Or would it be to 'encourage' (there's that word again) the team to remain firm and stand tall and not let a player or his agent score a term that will then be used in other negotiations for other players with other teams? Management Council exists in part to ensure coordination (i.e., collusion) when it comes to contractual trends. For instance, I've argued over the years that franchise quarterbacks should be paid not a set salary but a fixed percentage of the salary cap. The Collective Bargaining Agreement allows it. When asking around about it in the past, multiple sources from multiple teams said, essentially, 'Management Council would never allow it.' Management Council's influence is far stronger than the evidence fed to Droney would suggest. When Management Council 'encourages,' the teams ignore the urging at their own risk. Indeed, what happened after Management Council, sparked by the fully-guaranteed Deshaun Watson contract, encouraged teams to not fully guarantee deals? Kyler Murray didn't get one. Russell Wilson didn't get one. Lamar Jackson. That neutralized the threat. It also helped that Watson's contract has been a disaster for the Browns. The collusion case could still be a disaster for the NFL. The appeal is apparently happening, even though the NFLPA has suddenly decided to not respond to any questions from PFT, regarding the collusion case or any other topic.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lloyd Howell resigns as NFLPA executive director
The NFL Players Association is going to need a new leader. NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. announced his resignation Thursday evening. "It's clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day. For this reason, I have informed the NFLPA Executive Committee that I am stepping down as Executive Director of the NFLPA and Chairman of the Board of NFL Players effective immediately," Howell said in a statement. "I hope this will allow the NFLPA to maintain its focus on its player members ahead of the upcoming season." A message was also sent to the NFLPA membership from the executive committee and was obtained by USA TODAY Sports. It read:'This evening, Lloyd Howell informed us that he is stepping down as Executive Director of the union. We accepted his resignation and are grateful for his service. The Board will convene as soon as possible for a meeting on next steps and will be in touch with our membership soon.' Howell had come under intense scrutiny in recent days and weeks following the "Pablo Torre Finds Out" podcast's release of a 61-page arbitration report. In January, Christopher Droney, an independent arbitrator, dismissed a grievance raised by the NFLPA, ruling there wasn't sufficient evidence of collusion by NFL owners. However, the contents of his report included a finding that the NFL encouraged owners "to reduce guarantees in future contracts with players at the March 2022 annual meeting." ESPN had reported that the NFL and NFLPA made an "unusual confidentiality agreement" to keep the findings of the arbitration report secret. "By agreeing to a confidentiality agreement, the union purposefully blocked the players from receiving crucial information about the operations of the NFL," attorney Peter Ginsberg said via ESPN. "The NFL and the union should not be conspiring together to keep important information from the players." NFL CONTROVERSY: In stunning ruling, arbitrator finds league encouraged collusion ESPN reports Lloyd Howell has side job with conflict of interest Further controversy surrounding Howell emerged on July 10. ESPN reported that Howell, in addition to his job as head of the players' union, was working as a "paid, part-time consultant for The Carlyle Group," a private equity firm that the NFL approved to seek minority ownership stakes in its teams. Howell had started the consulting gig months before starting his role as the NFLPA's executive director. He refused to step down from his role with The Carlyle Group after taking the NFLPA job, ESPN reported. "It would be an outrageous conflict for the head of a labor union to have an interest in a third party that is aligned with the NFL," NFLPA's former lead outside counsel Jim Quinn said, via ESPN. "The relationship between a labor organization and the employer organization is adversarial by definition, and as a result, as a leader, you have to be absolutely clear and clean as to having no even appearance of conflict." A representative for The Carlyle Group told ESPN in a statement that Howell "had no access to information about the NFL and Carlyle process" and that she was unaware of the union's request he leave his consulting position. USA TODAY Sports had also confirmed an ESPN report that the NFLPA hired law firm Wilmer Hale last month to look into Howell's actions as the union's executive director. NFLPA: NFL and players union agreed to keep collusion findings secret, per report Lloyd Howell involved in previous legal controversies Prior to Howell's election as the union's new executive director, he served as the chief financial officer for technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton between 2016 and 2022. In July 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Booz Allen paid out a $377 million settlement resulting from a whistleblower lawsuit that alleged the firm had been overcharging the federal government. The Washington Post reported that the whistleblower had notified top executives, including Howell, of the overcharging issue for months. The NFLPA had hired Howell as its executive director just one month before the announcement of Booz Allen's settlement. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lloyd Howell resigns as NFLPA executive director
Associated Press
09-07-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
NFL players union appealing ruling in collusion case, AP source says
The NFL Players Association is appealing an arbitrator's ruling regarding collusion by owners over quarterback salaries, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The person, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because it's a legal matter, said the appeal was filed on Tuesday and the union has been having ongoing discussions with its executive council about the matter. There's no timeline for a decision that'll be made by a standing appeals panel made up of three people. On Jan. 14, arbitrator Christopher Droney ruled there wasn't sufficient evidence of collusion by owners in contract negotiations with quarterbacks after the Cleveland Browns gave QB Deshaun Watson a record $230 million fully guaranteed contract. Any attempt to collude to keep salaries down violates the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the union. ___ AP NFL:
The Australian
25-06-2025
- Business
- The Australian
Arbitrator finds NFL encouraged teams to cut veteran guarantees: reports
An arbitrator ruling on a collusion grievance between the NFL and its players union found the league encouraged all teams to reduce contract guarantees for veteran players in March 2022, according to multiple reports on Tuesday. Podcaster Pablo Torre and Mike Florio of unveiled the 61-page ruling from January 14, 2025, and said the NFL and NFL Players Association had kept the outcome private. "There is little question that the NFL management council, with the blessing of the commissioner, encouraged the 32 NFL clubs to reduce guarantees in veterans' contracts at the March 2022 annual owners' meeting," arbitrator Christopher Droney wrote. That meeting was only days after the Cleveland Browns had given quarterback Deshaun Watson a five-year deal worth $230 million -- all of it guaranteed. Droney, however, found in favor of the league in his ruling, saying evidence introduced at a 2024 hearing on the matter did not prove by a "clear preponderance" of evidence that teams acted on the NFL management council's encouragement. NFL quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, and Kyler Murray signed huge contract extensions after Watson but none were fully guaranteed deals. js/pb
