Posts tagged NFLPA
Sources: FBI probes finances from business owned by MLBPA, NFLPA
June 4, 2025 // The OneTeam partnership has become a major financial boon for both associations and has grown in valuation as it added the players' unions of women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, and other sports and college athletes to its portfolio. OneTeam was valued at $1.9 billion in 2022, when RedBird Capital sold its 40% stake to three other investment firms. The MLBPA's and NFLPA's relationships with OneTeam have come under scrutiny before. In late 2024, an anonymous unfair labor practices complaint was filed with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging "nepotism, corruption, mismanagement" at the MLBPA.
NFLPA Investigating Own Role in OneTeam Amid Corruption Allegations
January 22, 2025 // 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 said the NFLPA 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.
Terence Crawford Takes Aim at Boxing Corruption, Wants to Start Union
August 18, 2023 // “If all of the top fighters with a name and a brand behind them came together, we could make change,” he said. “We have different races, different ages, different countries — it’s everyone from all walks of life coming together. I think it can be done.” In January 2022, Crawford filed a lawsuit seeking nearly $10 million against his former promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, accusing him of racial bias against promoting Black fighters. “Boxing is one of the most corrupted sports there is and ever [has] been in the history of sports,” Crawford said in another interview with Boardroom. “We’ll take a $5 million guarantee not knowing there’s $30 million dollars that we missed,” he added. “Once I started asking [contract] questions and learning a bit here and there, it became a problem between me and my old promoter, and at that point in time, I knew it was time to go.”
Labor lobbies up
February 15, 2022 // Nicole Brener-Schmitz, the former Teamsters lobbyist and NARAL political director, has registered to lobby for the Communications Workers of America on a range of issues that includes Democrats’ landmark labor overhaul, the PRO Act; the bipartisan infrastructure bill; congressional Democrats’ voting rights bills; the offshoring of call center jobs; union rights for state and local government workers; and paid leave. CWA also retains Emmer Consulting.