Ex-NFLPA boss Howell quits function as marketing consultant for The Carlyle Group

Former NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. resigned his part-time consulting job with The Carlyle Group, one of a select group of league-approved firms seeking minority ownership in NFL franchises.

Howell’s side job as an operations executive with Carlyle’s aerospace and defense investment team was among several issues to emerge in the week before his abrupt resignation from the NFLPA’s top job on Thursday.

A Carlyle Group spokesman confirmed Monday that Howell had resigned but declined to say when. The spokesman also declined to comment on any specifics related to the resignation from his role.

Howell could not be reached by ESPN.

ESPN reported July 10 that Howell joined Carlyle in March 2023, three months before the NFLPA hired him to be the players’ chief representative in relations with the league. In August, the NFL named three private equity firms and a consortium of firms, including Carlyle, to a list of approved funds that can invest in minority franchise stakes not to exceed 10%. Sources told ESPN a senior union lawyer spoke to Howell about whether it was appropriate for him to continue working as an operations executive in Carlyle’s aerospace and defense investment team, sources told ESPN.

The union lawyer asked Howell to consider resigning from the private equity firm to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest if the firm took an ownership stake in an NFL franchise, a source with knowledge of the situation said. Howell declined at the time to step away from Carlyle, the source said.

Howell’s resignation from the NFLPA ended an embattled two-year tenure. The 59-year-old said in a statement released by the union that his “leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day.” Sources told ESPN that Howell resigned on his own and surprised some members of the NFLPA’s 10-person executive committee, which had selected the former chief financial officer of technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton as a finalist for the top job after a 16-month search shrouded in secrecy.

In addition to revelations about his work at Carlyle, ESPN reported in May that the FBI was investigating the financial dealings of the NFLPA and the MLB Players Association related to multibillion-dollar group-licensing firm OneTeam Partners. According to sources, the report triggered the NFLPA to hire Ronald C. Machen of law firm WilmerHale to review Howell’s activities as executive director. The FBI investigation, which is being conducted in conjunction with the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, New York, is continuing, sources said.

ESPN also reported last week that Howell struck a confidentiality agreement with the NFL six months ago that hid from players the details of a January arbitration decision, including a finding that league executives urged team owners to reduce guaranteed player compensation. The 61-page ruling was first published by the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast on June 24.

On Thursday, ESPN reported Howell was sued for sexual discrimination and retaliation in 2011 while he was a senior executive at Booz Allen and that a dispute emerged about whether the players who voted for him as NFLPA executive director were aware of that lawsuit before his 2023 election.