Lloyd Howell officially resigned from his role as executive director of the NFL Players Association on July 18, just 13 months after taking over the position. His abrupt departure follows scrutiny over his prior association with TLG Capital, a private investment firm that was approved to manage union funds during his tenure. Howell was still listed as affiliated with TLG at the time of the fund approval, according to publicly available records. While the NFLPA has not publicly cited a specific reason for the resignation, a new detail has emerged.

Howell, who had led the NFLPA since 2023, reportedly billed the union for two separate visits to str-p clubs, as per ESPN. One in Florida and another in Georgia, under the guise of official union activity. Documents show Lloyd Howell charged the union for a $738.82 car service in November 2023. The vehicle took him from Fort Lauderdale International Airport to a Miami Gardens address later identified as Tootsie’s Cabaret. It’s a 76,000-square-foot establishment that advertises itself as the world’s largest str-p club.

The car service remained on standby for nearly eight hours, eventually dropping Howell off at his Sunny Isles Beach condominium at 6 a.m. A young finance staffer at the NFLPA, who researched the address independently, first flagged the charge. That discovery triggered internal escalation, with the union’s travel department forwarding the matter to its compliance division for a legal review.

A year later, Lloyd Howell reportedly visited another str-p club, Magic City in Atlanta, during the NFLPA’s annual summit in February 2025. Accompanied by two union employees, Howell incurred $2,426 in expenses, which included multiple cash withdrawals from a club ATM and charges for two VIP rooms. The expense reports for this outing described it as a Player Engagement Event to support & grow our Union. Sources told ESPN that Howell instructed one of the employees to submit the expense reports for reimbursement.

In his resignation statement, Howell said, “It’s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day.” He informed the union’s executive committee of his immediate departure during a late-night call, reportedly surprising several members who attempted to convince him to stay. But ESPN revealed another shocking truth.

Here are the previous details concerning Lloyd Howell:

ESPN also reported that Howell had been named in a 2015 se-ual discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed against Booz Allen Hamilton, his former employer. The lawsuit was reportedly settled. And one of Howell’s colleagues was dismissed for attempting to expense a similar nightclub visit. Howell was reprimanded but ultimately promoted to CFO a year later, reportedly with the support of Booz Allen leadership and executives at The Carlyle Group.

Howell’s ties to The Carlyle Group resurfaced during his tenure with the NFLPA. ESPN reported that he was concurrently working as a paid consultant for the private equity firm. This dual role raised concerns about a conflict of interest among union members. It was also revealed that Howell signed a confidential agreement with the NFL to keep the details of a January 2024 arbitration ruling hidden from player membership. That ruling included findings that NFL executives encouraged team owners to reduce guaranteed money in contracts.

Additional scrutiny reportedly followed after the FBI began investigating financial practices at OneTeam Partners, a group-licensing venture tied to both the NFLPA and MLBPA. That inquiry, reported by ESPN in May, led the NFLPA to appoint attorney Eric Machen to independently examine Howell’s activities as executive director.

In his resignation statement, Lloyd Howell said, “It’s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day.” He informed the union’s executive committee of his immediate departure during a late-night call. Reportedly, it surprised several members who attempted to convince him to stay.

As of now, the NFLPA has not named an interim successor. Stay connected, as we will continue to bring you more details.