NFL Players’ Union elects new leader
After a years-long search, the NFL Players Association’s 32 player representatives selected Lloyd Howell as their new executive director, the fifth in the union’s history and a replacement for DeMaurice Smith, whose term expires in 2024.
The selection of Howell, most recently the chief financial officer at the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, comes at the end of an opaque process for filling one of the most powerful jobs in the sport.
The search was kept confidential, but several former players, including Matt Schaub and Kellen Winslow Sr., said they applied and were turned down by the union’s executive committee, which consists of 11 current and former players.
After negotiating the 2020 collective bargaining agreement, a controversial process that led to the addition of one more game to the NFL’s regular season, Smith survived what amounted to a vote of no confidence in 2021 to retain the executive director job. That led to the search for his replacement.
“I am proud that our player management has conducted a professional, confidential search for the players, by the players.” said JC Tretter, president of the NFL Players Association. “I know Lloyd will lead our union well into the future.”
In a statement, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell applauded Smith’s “continuous” work, adding that the league looked forward to working on Howell “to continue to grow the game and make it better, safer, more accessible and more engaging.” making for fans all over the world.”
Howell takes over a union operating in a period of relative labor peace. The league’s collective bargaining agreement with the players will not expire for another seven seasons, and both the team owners and the players will be enriched by massive media contracts worth more than $100 billion.
The players are compensated based on the success of the league, so in many ways they are partners with the owners. But the union is also a crucial counterbalance to the country’s most powerful sports league. It opposed the owners’ desire to extend the season, called for safer playing conditions and funded extensive benefits for retired players.
The union’s profitable activities have also become more complex due to the expansion of the use of player data and their images and likenesses.
Smith can remain with the union in an advisory role. In the fiscal year ending February 2021, Smith earned approximately $4.5 million, according to union financial records.