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The NFL Players Association is formally investigating its own role in how OneTeam—a lucrative joint licensing venture between several major athlete unions—is run, Front Office Sports has learned. The review follows a National Labor Relations Board charge from a MLBPA whistleblower alleging corruption in the baseball union’s dealings with OneTeam.
Last month, NFLPA employees received an unsigned “litigation hold” letter, correspondence typically sent to employees of a company, important individuals facing litigation, and persons or entities involved in a potential lawsuit, informing them to save documents related to prospective legal action.
The Dec. 19 letter, obtained by FOS, informed union employees of the NFLPA investigation into the OneTeam relationship.
“[The NFLPA] recently learned through a public report that a whistleblower has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against NFLPA/PI’s JV (joint venture) partner, MLBPA and its leadership,” the letter reads. “The whistleblower made specific allegations regarding the conduct of the One Team Board.”
OneTeam is a joint venture between the players’ unions of the NFL, MLB, MLS, WNBA, U.S. women’s national soccer team, and several equity funds. It handles group licensing, sponsorships, marketing, and advises athletes.
The letter asks the recipients to save all documents related to OneTeam and lists two NFLPA executives for contact: assistant general counsel Heather McGee and general counsel Tom DePaso.
A source tells FOS the NFLPA has also hired Linklaters partner Richard Smith for the investigation. Smith has handled several high-profile investigations for the football union, including allegations brought by Colin Kaepernick; the Ray Rice domestic violence episode; the Miami Dolphins’ bullying investigation; and the New Orleans Saints “Bountygate” scandal. Smith did not reply for comment.
The NFLPA, MLBPA, and RedBird Capital created OneTeam in 2019 to represent athletes and their lucrative group licensing deals. In 2022 RedBird sold its stake to a group of equity investors, including HPS Investment Partners and Atlantic Park, in a deal that valued OneTeam at $1.9 billion. (RedBird Capital is the parent company of RedBird IMI, the majority owner of Front Office Sports.)
OneTeam is part of the focus of an NLRB charge brought by whistleblowers alleging corruption at the MLBPA. In the labor board charge, the whistleblowers write, “MLBPA Exec. Dire. Tony Clark & others placed on MLBPA-owned for-profit (OTP) board, even though unqualified. (1) Self-Dealing/Conflict of Interest: Clark improperly gave himself & other executives equity In OTP. Inadequate disclosures involving OTP in MLBPA’s LM-2 (annual report).
“Abuse of Power and Conflict of Interest: MLBPA is cracking down on sports agencies it regulates. Yet MLBPA and Clark-owned OTP does this very thing, Tony and other MLBPA employees are personally profiting from the crackdown.”
In recent years, the MLBPA has cracked down on agencies that run afoul of its rules, including Bad Bunny’s Rimas Sports.
A source says in response to the report of the NLRB charge: “OneTeam commissioned an outside firm to conduct an internal corporate governance audit, which confirmed the organization is fully in compliance with industry best practices.”
The letter does not contain allegations of corruption in the NFLPA-OneTeam relationship. But some clues are dropped in the instructions in the litigation hold letter to NFLPA staff on what subjects they should be saving documents for.
“All communications relating to the development, negotiation of the OTP Senior Executive Incentive Plan that was drafted and adopted in 2023 (“the SEIP”),” the letter instructs. “All documents and communications referring or relating to the concept of granting SEIP Units to OTP Board members and/or the entities that the OTP Board members represent.
Last week came a report that under executive director Lloyd Howell—who has been on the job since mid-2023—the NFLPA is sending buyout packages to half its staff.
Howell, according to the report, blamed the staff cuts on an arbitration loss to Panini that resulted in a $7.8 million payment to the player trading card company. The NFLPA as of February 29, 2024, had $76 million of cash on hand and total assets of $1.16 billion (net assets were $828 million), according to its annual report filed with the Department of Labor. A key source of these funds are group licensing revenues from OneTeam.
Sources close to the situation—speaking anonymously because of concerns about revealing internal union business—offered differing perspectives on the NFLPA buyouts. One source told FOS that Lloyd wanted to remove the entire legal department because of the investigation, and two sources said that longtime NFLPA general counsel Tom DePaso is departing amid the investigation and widespread job cuts. Another source close to the NFLPA denied that DePaso was leaving or that Howell was cleaning house in the legal department, and said the staff reductions are unrelated to the review of OneTeam.
The NFLPA declined to comment.
One thing is for sure in all this: The NFLPA’s Super Bowl week press conference just got a lot more interesting.
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