When The Carlyle Group became one of the few private-equity funds that were approved to buy minority interests in NFL teams, former NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell should have been required to resign from his part-time consulting job with The Carlyle Group or from the NFLPA.
He left neither. He has now left both.
Via Don Van Natta Jr. of ESPN.com, a spokesman from The Carlyle Group said Howell has resigned.
“The spokesman refused to say when Howell resigned and why,” Van Natta notes.
It presumably happened at some point after July 10, when Van Natta and Kalyn Kahler of ESPN.com reported on the existing of the dual relationship, and regarding concerns raised by at least one in-house union lawyer about the obvious conflict of interest.
Common sense suggests that Howell’s departure has some connection to at least some of the stuff that has emerged in recent weeks, up to and including the report regarding Howell’s strip-club expense-report misadventures.
At the end of the day, Howell never should have tried to work for the NFLPA while still working for The Carlyle Group. The moment he realized that The Carlyle Group was trying to receive authorization to buy minority stakes in NFL teams, he should have stepped down from one or the other. The moment The Carlyle Group received such approval, his choice was overdue.
Instead, when the situation came to light, Howell doubled down. Now, he has double resigned.
