After just two years at the job, NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. announced on Thursday that he was stepping down.
“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 Inc., effective immediately,” Howell wrote in a statement.
Howell’s decision to resign came amid heavy criticism following reports from podcaster Pablo Torre, including the revelation that Howell served as a paid part-time consultant for The Carlyle Group, a public equity firm approved to invest in NFL teams (with up to a 10 percent minority stake).
Understandably, that led to questions about a potential conflict of interest.
In the wake of Howell’s resignation, more issues have come to light. Documents recently obtained by ESPN show that an outside investigator uncovered evidence that Howell had expensed trips to multiple strip clubs.
Two strip club visits were expensed to the union, including a $738.82 car service that set off alarm bells. A union finance worker discovered the expense reports and researched the attached address online, revealing it was Tootsie’s Cabaret — a 76,000-square-foot venue in Miami Gardens.
A year after those expense reports were flagged, Howell and two other union employees again expensed a strip club visit, this time in Atlanta.
The reports alleged the visit was for a “Player Engagement Event to support & grow our Union” at the Magic City strip club. Multiple “VIP rooms” were rented, and the outing incurred $2,426 in charges (some of which were cash withdrawals at an ATM).
No player names were listed on the expense reports or club receipts.
“That’s pretty horrible,” Bob Stropp, a veteran labor lawyer, told ESPN. “That’s unbelievable. I don’t know how you get around that. It’s hard to believe that anyone would be that stupid.”
Howell, who was elected union president in 2024, earned a salary of $3.6 million last year.
