A 2011 sexual discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed against NFL Players Association Executive Director Lloyd Howell Jr. has ignited a dispute over whether player representatives were aware of the case before electing him in 2023.
Two player representatives who voted for Howell told ESPN they were never informed of the lawsuit during the election process and were surprised to learn of it. One player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “Now that all this stuff is coming out, I am like — wait a second, what happened there?” Another representative told a confidant that finding out after the election was “concerning,” adding, “it feels like it was quashed.”
However, two members of the union’s executive committee, which vetted Howell as a finalist, dispute these accounts. They insist the settled lawsuit was disclosed to all 32 player representatives at the June 2023 election meeting and that Howell was “grilled” about it. “Full disclosures were made to everybody … and questions were asked,” said one committee member, who also requested anonymity. “We obviously all decided we were OK with moving forward [with Howell’s candidacy] or we would have shut it down.”
The lawsuit was filed in August 2011 by Margo Fitzpatrick, then a partner at consulting firm Booz Allen, where Howell was a senior executive. The suit alleged that the firm denied leadership roles to female employees and that Howell told her the finance industry was a “‘good ole boys club’ in which only men could succeed.” Fitzpatrick also claimed Howell excluded her from client meetings and questioned if other female colleagues were in sororities because they caused “drama.” According to the lawsuit, she was terminated after reporting the alleged conduct. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum in July 2015.
The NFLPA paid search firm Russell Reynolds Associates approximately $500,000 to help find a successor for DeMaurice Smith, who led the union from 2009 to 2023. The executive committee worked with the firm to vet candidates, and its members stated they learned of the lawsuit early in the process. They said they consulted with Booz Allen lawyers and the union’s general counsel before presenting Howell as a finalist. “We felt comfortable with his answers,” one executive committee member said. “We as a group made that decision — we did our due diligence.”
During the two-day election meeting in Virginia, player representatives heard presentations from Howell and the other finalist, former SAG-AFTRA chief David P. White. One player rep recalled Howell pitching himself as an asset because of his corporate background, stating, “In a nutshell, it was like, ‘I am going to know how to negotiate with the owners because I am from their world. I have been the guy fighting against unions for the corporation.'”
This disagreement over the lawsuit’s disclosure adds to the scrutiny surrounding Howell’s leadership. Recent reports revealed the FBI is investigating the union’s financial dealings with licensing firm OneTeam Partners, prompting the NFLPA to hire the law firm Wilmer Hale to review Howell’s activities. It was also reported that Howell is a paid consultant for the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm seeking ownership in NFL teams, and that he struck a confidentiality agreement with the NFL that hid an arbitration decision from players.
A union spokesperson declined to comment. In a recent message to members, the NFLPA’s executive committee backed Howell, stating it has “established a deliberate process to carefully assess the issues that have been raised and will not engage in a rush to judgement.” The two executive committee members interviewed by ESPN reaffirmed their support, with one saying, “We felt great about the process. We are 100 percent behind Lloyd.”
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