Confidentiality Agreement Reveals Tensions Between the NFL and the Players Association
An unusual confidentiality agreement between the NFL and the leaders of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) has brought to light details of an arbitration decision that were hidden from the players. The information, obtained by Alofoke Deportes, reveals that league executives urged team owners to reduce the guaranteed compensation to players. The arbitration, led by Christopher Droney on January 14, determined that there was not enough evidence of collusion by the owners in contract negotiations with quarterbacks, following Deshaun Watson’s record and fully guaranteed contract in 2022. However, Droney concluded that the NFLPA demonstrated that Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league’s general counsel, Jeff Pash, pressured the owners to restrict guaranteed money in player contracts. The confidentiality agreement kept the details of the 61-page decision secret until two weeks ago, when a podcast published the document, generating surprise among union members. Some players expressed their surprise at the information and their bewilderment at the lack of transparency. On Tuesday evening, nearly six months after Droney’s decision, the NFLPA, led by Executive Director Lloyd Howell Jr., decided to appeal the ruling. A high-ranking union source stated that the appeal reflects the obligation to enforce the collective bargaining agreement and protect the interests of the players. The arbitration case centered on discussions between league executives and owners after the Cleveland Browns signed Watson to a guaranteed contract of $230 million for five years in March 2022, and whether these conversations affected negotiations with Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, and Russell Wilson. None of the three signed guaranteed deals. Droney included text message exchanges and emails between league executives and owners in his ruling, stating that a “concerted action” was contemplated and invited at the March 2022 owners’ meeting. The union declined to answer questions about the delay in the appeal or the reasons for it. A league spokesperson also refrained from commenting. As head of the union, Lloyd has an obligation to protect the best interests of the players. By accepting a confidentiality agreement, the union blocked players from accessing crucial information about the NFL’s operations. The NFL and the union should not conspire to hide important information from the players. The union’s decision to appeal, nearly six months later, comes at a time when Howell’s leadership in the NFLPA is being examined. Sources indicated that the union hired Ronald C. Machen of the law firm Wilmer Hale to review Howell’s activities as executive director. According to sources, the investigation led by Machen was triggered by reports about the FBI and federal prosecutors’ investigation into the union’s financial affairs related to a multi-million dollar group licensing firm, OneTeam Partners. Howell and MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark are on the OneTeam board of directors. Under the terms of the confidentiality agreement between the union and the NFL, the 61-page arbitration ruling was only to be shared with the league’s and union’s lawyers, and with a handful of high-ranking executives from the union and the league, while the NFLPA considered its next legal action. Multiple sources indicated that Droney, the arbitrator, was aware of the confidentiality agreement. Shortly after the agreement, Howell informed the executive committee of 10 active players and union president Jalen Reeves-Maybin in a conference call. According to several sources informed about the meeting, Howell informed the committee that the NFLPA had lost its collusion claim, but did not share any details of Droney’s findings or copies of the ruling with the players. Instead, he blamed his predecessor, DeMaurice Smith, for wasting resources on the three-year legal battle. Smith filed the complaint in October 2022. Sources familiar with the union’s history say they are unaware of the union previously signing a confidentiality agreement with the NFL that would prevent sharing arbitration rulings with the union’s executive committee and the 32 player representatives.Despite the collective bargaining agreement stating that executive committee members and player representatives are entitled to receive copies of all arbitration rulings, this did not happen in this case. Last March, at the NFLPA’s annual meeting held in Hawaii, copies of the ruling were not shared with the 32 NFLPA player representatives.
During Smith’s 14 years as CEO, he and the union’s lawyers routinely shared copies of arbitrators’ rulings with executive committee members and player representatives, according to multiple sources. Four executive committee members, Oren Burks, Thomas Morstead, Ted Karras, and Cameron Heyward, declined to comment. A representative of the NFLPA players, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that in the week following the ruling being made public, the union did not send any communication to its player representatives regarding the arbitrator’s decision. Mike McCartney, a veteran NFL agent who negotiated the NFL’s first fully guaranteed multi-year contract for quarterback Kirk Cousins, stated that Droney’s conclusion, that the management council encouraged teams to reduce guaranteed money, would have been helpful for players and agents working to negotiate deals in the last six months. Lorenzo Alexander, a 15-year NFL veteran who served on the executive committee from March 2014 to March 2021, stated that during his tenure, “There was usually some type of communication or updates as to, this is what’s going on, this is what we’re doing, especially with the president.” A former player representative, who requested to remain anonymous, questioned the union’s silence on the referee’s ruling. “My first reaction was, why the hell wouldn’t they tell the players or want this to be public? What’s going on?” said the player. “And then I thought, well, the union strategists tend to keep a lot of things pretty controlled… So my hope is that there’s a good reason why they did it.” According to the collective bargaining agreement, appeals to arbitration decisions must be filed within 10 days. Sources familiar with the matter indicated that the confidentiality agreement contained language that allowed the union to exceed that deadline and also allowed the league additional time to seek reimbursement of its legal costs. On Wednesday, a source familiar with the league office stated that the NFL notified the union of its intention to seek fees and legal costs exceeding $12 million. The union elected Howell as executive director in June 2023. He was paid $3.4 million last year. According to a source who heard Howell’s presentation to the executive committee, he ran on a platform of fresh ideas and transparency.
