Lloyd Howell received nearly $6.8M in salary and $7.2M in total compensation/disbursements across three fiscal years for his brief and tumultuous two-year tenure as Exec Dir of the NFLPA, according to federal filings.
Howell was elected in an unusually secretive process in June 2023 before resigning in July 2025 amid a series of disclosures that called into question the union’s handling of key matters during his time in charge.
Per annual LM-2 labor filings over the past three fiscal years (March-February), Howell’s salary was $2.1M in 2024, $3.3M in 2025 and $1.3M in 2026. Howell’s FY2026 total compensation was more than $1.4M. The most recent annual report with the Department of Labor was filed Thursday.
NFLPA interim Exec Dir David White, who took over for Howell, made $1.9M in FY2026. White, a former SAG-AFTRA executive director, served for about seven-and-a-half months. JC Tretter was elected as the NFLPA’s Exec Dir in March. Tretter made nearly $340,000 in FY26 as Chief Strategy Officer before resigning in July 2025. Eight months later, he was voted into the top spot.
Also making seven figures in total comp for FY 2026: NFL Players Inc. President Matthew Curtin ($1.4M); former COO Tuaranna Smith ($1.2M); former chairman DeMaurice Smith ($1.2M pursuant to the union’s nonqualified deferred compensation plan); and general counsel Thomas DePaso ($1M), who announced his retirement in March 2025.
The union finished the period with total assets of $1.52B in FY2026, an increase from $1.38B the previous year. Meanwhile, net assets rose from $1.03B to $1.16B.
The NFLPA’s largest commercial income stream comes from OneTeam Partners at $134.6M, an increase from $101.4M the previous year. OneTeam is the joint venture created with MLBPA and others in 2019.
Panini America paid the union $93.1M, an increase from $39.6M, due to royalties on higher sales. Income from NFL Ventures was up to $96.3M from $88.3M, and money from various Fanatics Inc. entities was down to $41.1M from $55.4M.
