The League

NFL calling for Congress to act

UPDATED (7:48 p.m.)...

The NFL is calling for Congress to enact legislation to ensure that the provisions of its collectively bargained steroid-testing policy take precedence over state laws.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the House subcommittee on commerce, trade and consumer protection. The subcommittee is holding a hearing on the case in which the NFL has been unable, because of a series of court rulings, to enforce its four-game suspensions of two Minnesota Vikings players who tested positive last year for a banned substance.

Goodell's written testimony was submitted to the subcommittee and a copy of it was obtained by The Washington Post.

In it, Goodell said: "We believe that a specific and tailored amendment to the Labor Management Relations Act is appropriate and necessary to protect collectively-bargained steroid policies from attack under state law. Our view is supported by the other major professional sports leagues, as well as the United States Anti-Doping Agency. A narrow and targeted amendment would preserve the rights of sports leagues and their player associations to negotiate and administer effective anti-drug and steroid programs."

DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association who also is scheduled to testify Tuesday, said in his written testimony that the union and the league can address the necessary issues through the collective bargaining process.

"We believe that the most effective way to ensure that our collectively bargained Policy does not conflict with any state law is for the League and our union to draft carefully crafted language in the new CBA that reflects our acute awareness of these issues," Smith said. "We are confident that we can effectively work through the collective bargaining process with the league to implement changes that will better protect our players, ensure the uniform application of the drug testing policy, and strengthen the integrity of that policy. We look forward to keeping the Subcommittee apprised of our efforts and the success of this approach."

Goodell criticized the players' union for its role in the case in his written testimony.

"We--and we also believe Congress--have always understood that the negotiation, administration and enforcement of the collectively-bargained steroid policies in professional sports are governed exclusively by federal labor law," Goodell said in the written testimony. "Yet, during the past year, the courts have permitted NFL players--regrettably, with the acquiescence of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA)--to use state laws to avoid the agreed-upon consequences for the players' admitted violation of our collectively-bargained anti-steroid policy. These court decisions call into question the continued viability of the steroid policies of the NFL and other national sports organizations."

Smith defended the union's actions in the case in his written testimony, saying the union acted to protect the rights of the players involved.

Smith also said in his written testimony that players should be allowed to appeal disciplinary rulings made under the steroid-testing policy to an outside arbitrator.

"We believe that the players should have outside, impartial arbitration of any disputes under the Policy, just as players in Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, and the National Basketball Association have under their drug policies," Smith said in his written testimony, a copy of which was obtained by The Post. "Experience has shown that allowing the NFL to pick one of its own attorneys to arbitrate Drug Policy appeals undermines the credibility of the process. Players have to believe that they are getting a fair shake under the Policy, and this change, I believe, would enhance the Policy's effectiveness without threatening any of its basic tenets."

It will be the second Capitol Hill appearance in less than a week for Goodell and Smith. Both testified before the House Judiciary Committee last Wednesday during a hearing on the rate and severity of brain injuries being suffered by NFL players.

"We are committed to maintaining a level playing field in the NFL, protecting the health of our athletes, ensuring public confidence in the integrity of the game of professional football, setting a positive example for young people, and working together with the NFL Players Association to continue to refine our steroid policy," Goodell said in his written testimony for Tuesday's hearing. "We believe such focused legislation will aid us in these goals."

The league attempted to impose four-game suspensions on Vikings defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams last year for testing positive for bumetanide, a diuretic that's on the league's list of banned substances as a possible masking agent for steroids. The players indicated they ingested the diuretic unknowingly by taking the weight loss product StarCaps. The players and the NFL Players Association took legal action, contending that representatives of the league's steroid-testing program had prior knowledge that StarCaps contained bumetanide but failed to warn players properly.

The case has played out in both federal and state courts. A federal appeals court upheld a previous ruling by a federal judge rejecting most of the claims by the players and the union, but also sending two issues involving Minnesota workplace laws back to a state court to be decided there.

The state court has indicated that it is unlikely to hold a trial during the current NFL season, keeping the two Vikings players eligible to play this season.

The NFL announced that it would not enforce its suspensions of two New Orleans Saints players, defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant, for testing positive last year for bumetanide because it would be unfair for them to be suspended while the two Vikings players continue to play.

Drug-testing experts have said the court rulings in the case have made athletes in Minnesota subject to a different set of drug-testing rules than athletes in different states.

League counsel Jeff Pash has said that the NFL might turn over control of its steroid-testing program in the future to the World Anti-Doping Agency or a federal agency if it finds that it cannot continue to run the program effectively in cooperation with the players' union.

By Mark Maske  |  November 2, 2009; 5:56 PM ET  | Category:  League , Union
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