{"id":10951,"date":"2025-07-15T06:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T06:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/10951\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T06:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T06:16:07","slug":"tony-clark-says-fbi-investigation-hasnt-changed-his-job-leading-mlb-players-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/10951\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Clark says FBI investigation hasn\u2019t changed his job leading MLB players\u2019 union"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 Asked if a federal investigation has jeopardized his work leading the baseball players\u2019 union, Tony Clark said Monday afternoon that his job is unchanged.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy work is the same as it\u2019s always been,\u201d Clark said during batting practice prior to the Home Run Derby at Truist Park. \u201cAnd our responsibility is to continue to protect and advance the rights of our players.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some of his first public comments on the matter, Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, gave little insight into the probe that has embroiled officials inside both the MLBPA and the NFL\u2019s union. The investigation, which is being conducted by the Eastern District of New York, is related to OneTeam Partners, a licensing company the two unions co-own with three other sports unions.<\/p>\n

Clark declined to say whether he personally is under investigation. Nor would he disclose what he understands the status of the probe to be or when he believes it could conclude.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy response to those three (questions), and probably any other one you\u2019re going to ask associated with it, is going to be the same,\u201d Clark said. \u201cWe understand that there\u2019s an investigation. That investigation is ongoing. We have been and will continue to be fully cooperative as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark and the players in the union have retained different outside lawyers<\/a> in response to the investigation. So too have Lloyd Howell Jr., the head of the NFL Players Association, and his union.<\/p>\n

The Athletic previously reported on a move that raised alarm within one of the unions. In that instance, a proposal to modify an equity program<\/a> at OneTeam Partners created controversy last year when an NFLPA official alleged that the plan had the potential to lead to union officials enriching themselves. Officials from multiple sports unions, including Howell and Clark, sit on OneTeam\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n

Both Clark and Howell signed a resolution last June supporting the plan. OneTeam Partners, which the NFLPA owns a 44 percent stake in and the MLBPA a 22 percent stake, said the plan was not ultimately enacted and that it was part of \u201can exploratory review to determine whether the company could lawfully offer incentive-based compensation to current and prospective board members.\u201d<\/p>\n

OneTeam has also said that \u201cOneTeam is not the subject of the investigation and has not been accused of any wrongdoing in any way.\u201d The company declined additional comment Monday.<\/p>\n

The NFLPA last winter retained an outside firm, Linklaters, to review the matter. Now, the FBI is involved. The full scope of the investigation is unclear. The Eastern District of New York has not publicly commented.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long run of controversy for Clark. Just before Opening Day in 2024, some players and a former MLBPA lawyer challenged Clark and pushed him to fire his second-in-command, Bruce Meyer. Later, at the end of 2024, an anonymous complaint about Clark was filed to the National Labor Relations Board.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a crucial time for the union with the sport\u2019s owners and players nearing another round of collective bargaining. The current agreement expires after the 2026 season, and negotiations are expected to get underway no later than next summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of what is going on around us, my first focus, my second focus and my last focus is going to be to ensure that the players are educated on the things that they need to be educated on in preparation for whatever tomorrow\u2019s going to look like,\u201d Clark said Monday when asked about the string of bad news.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Rob Manfred said in June that he was following news of the federal investigation into Clark.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I\u2019ve read the articles. I think you would think I was somewhat negligent if I haven\u2019t,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cBeyond reading the articles, there\u2019s not much for us to do. One thing: you know, I did spend a year in a federal district court when I was a kid. One thing you learn about FBI investigations: let them do their thing and stay out of their way, and that\u2019s where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manfred subsequently said<\/a> players have been out of step with the MLBPA\u2019s leadership. Clark responded at the time in a statement saying Manfred was trying to divide players.<\/p>\n

(Photo of Tony Clark from 2022: Luis Magana \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Asked if a federal investigation has jeopardized his work leading the baseball players\u2019 union, Tony Clark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99,1794],"class_list":{"0":"post-10951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-sports-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}