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Football Union Evidently Colluded With NFL
Did Union Purposefully Hide Crucial Information From Players?
A simple review of published American news stories each day turns up multiple examples of union officials’ undercutting the interests of workers instead of advancing them.
A recent notable case in point is a July 9 ESPN news story documenting what appears to be a remarkably cozy relationship between top bosses of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA/AFLCIO) union and the NFL.
Citing confidential sources, journalists Don Van Natta Jr. and Kalyn Kahler reported that the NFL and “senior leaders” of the NFLPA union had “struck an unusual confidentiality agreement that hid the details of an arbitration decision” from unionized players.
Among the hidden details was a finding that “league executives had urged team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation . . . .”
Like Millions of Other Employees, NFL Players Are Forced to Bankroll a Union
National Right to Work Committee Vice President Greg Mourad noted:
“Professional football players constitute a tiny and, in some ways, elite segment of American workers.
“But they have at least a couple of things in common with millions of other unionized private-sector employees across the country.
“If they don’t fork over dues or fees to the union that wields monopoly-bargaining control over their terms and conditions of employment, and their home team isn’t located in a Right to Work state, they will be fired.
“And, if they are paying attention, football players have ample reason to suspect the union bosses who wield forced-dues power over their jobs do not have the rank-and-file’s best interest at heart.”
Why would then-Executive Director Lloyd Howell Jr. and other NFLPA bosses have agreed to conceal from coerced union members the fact that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and his top lawyer had urged owners to “restrict guaranteed money in player contracts”?
One plausible, though yet to be proven explanation is that, even as he was ruling over the NFLPA, Mr. Howell was also working as a “paid, part-time consultant for the Carlyle Group, one of a select group of league-approved private equity firms now seeking minority ownership in NFL franchises,” as Mr. Van Natta and Ms. Kahler reported in a July 10 followup story for ESPN.
“Enhancing the profitability of NFL teams by tamping down the compensation of football players arguably advanced the interests of the Carlyle Group,” explained Mr. Mourad.
“That could be why Mr. Howell seemingly sided with NFL executives and against the players he purportedly represented.”
Visit to Atlanta Strip Club Was Creatively Labeled As ‘Player Engagement Event’
Had not indefatigable sports podcaster Pablo Torre obtained a copy of the hitherto hidden January 2025 arbitration document and published it in June, football players and the public might never have found out about the apparent collusion between NFL executives and the NFLPA union hierarchy.
Mr. Mourad concluded:
“Lloyd Howell, who resigned in disgrace from his NFLPA post on July 17, is an excellent example of why Congress should quickly adopt H.R.1232/S.533, the National Right to Work Act, and President Trump should sign it into law. This simple reform would protect NFL players and millions of other employees from being forced to pay union dues or fees as a job condition.
“In addition to his clear conflict of interest as head of the NFLPA, Mr. Howell brazenly insisted that forced dues-paying NFL players pay for his visits to strip clubs, including a February 2025 Atlanta jaunt with two union staffers and two players during which he racked up $2,426 in expenses. In his expense report, Mr. Howell referred to the trip as a ‘Player Engagement Event’!
“Mr. Howell also reportedly ‘ordered’ the NFLPA facilities department to procure for him at the union’s D.C. headquarters a parking space double the width of others in the lot and numbered 32, because that was O.J. Simpson’s player number!
“If union members choose voluntarily to turn over their money to such a man, that’s their business, but no one should be forced to do so.”
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