Federal agents have contacted Major League Baseball and National Football League players as part of an investigation into financial dealings related to a group licensing firm, OneTeam Partners, that was created by both leagues’ unions and other backers, people briefed on the investigation who were not authorized to speak publicly said. ESPN first reported the inquiry and that baseball players had been interviewed.
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The players involved are not targets of the investigation, sources said. The FBI and the Department of Labor are both involved in the inquiries, which concern the financial structure and dealings of OneTeam. OneTeam secures media deals and leverages the name, image and licensing rights of players in the NFL and MLB and in several other sports, and makes payments to the respective unions. OneTeam paid the MLBPA $44.5 million in 2024, the MLBPA reported to the Department of Labor.
MLBPA head Tony Clark is on the OneTeam Players Association Board of Directors, as is NFLPA leader Lloyd Howell. Clark and former NFLPA leader DeMaurice Smith co-founded OneTeam in 2019 in partnership with the private equity firm Redbird Capital, and it has since grown into a multibillion-dollar entity. Smith left the NFLPA in 2023; RedBird sold its stake in OneTeam in 2022.
In a statement to ESPN, OneTeam said it is “aware of an ongoing investigation of allegations concerning our partners. We want to emphasize that OneTeam is not the subject of the investigation and has not been accused of any wrongdoing in any way. OneTeam is fully committed to cooperating with the investigation.”
NFL players received a communication from someone within the NFLPA on Friday with information about the investigation, though a person with knowledge of the NFLPA’s actions who was granted anonymity to speak freely said that the communication did not actually come from NFLPA leadership.
“We are aware of the investigation and fully prepared to cooperate if the NFLPA is contacted,” an NFLPA spokesperson said.
Said the MLBPA in a similar statement: “If the MLBPA is contacted by the government, we intend to cooperate fully with any investigation.”
ESPN reported that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York is running the investigation. The Eastern District did not immediately return a request for comment.
(Photo of Clark: AP Photo / Jose Luis Magana, File)
