By FREDERIC J. FROMMER and HOWARD FENDRICH
Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Arguing that sports leagues' drug programs
could be "gutted" if not protected from individual states' laws,
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell asked Congress on Tuesday to
intervene with legislation and found at least one powerful ally.
Rep. Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee, said during a hearing Tuesday that recent court
decisions essentially blocking doping-related suspensions of two
Minnesota Vikings players "could render the NFL and Major League
Baseball drug testing programs unenforceable, loophole-ridden,
and unacceptably weak and ineffective."
Yet Goodell also heard this, less-supportive, message from
another lawmaker: Be careful what you wish for.
"You don't want to have 435 members of Congress writing a law
that would have in any way some immediate conduct and effect on
your players," Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., told Goodell at the end
of the subcommittee session he chaired Tuesday.
Waving his hands as if to ward off the effort, Rush said, "You
don't want us to get involved in this. You can't tell what
members of Congress will ultimately do once you open up this
Pandora's Box."
Rush urged the league and its players union to try to work out a
solution.
Goodell wants to change federal law to protect sports leagues'
collectively bargained steroid policies from state law
challenges; DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL
Players Association, prefers to resolve the issue during labor
talks.
The House subcommittee also heard from executives from Major
League Baseball - supporting the NFL's contention that
legislation could help - and the baseball's players union,
backing its football counterpart in saying legislation is
unnecessary.
Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said his
organization supports legislation to protect professional sports
leagues' anti-doping programs "against interference from
inconsistent state laws."
Waxman, who has held high-profile hearings on steroids in
sports, said that if the court rulings are not reversed, "then
we need to find out if the collective bargaining process can
solve these problems or whether congressional action is needed.
"One thing is clear: We should not allow the drug policies that
the NFL, Major League Baseball, and other sports leagues have
put in place to be rendered null and void. That is an invitation
to steroid abuse in professional sports. And it will inevitably
lead to more steroid use on high school football fields and
baseball diamonds."
Goodell and Smith also took some swipes at each other Tuesday,
six days after appearing before another House committee looking
at the NFL's policies regarding concussions - and one day before
the two men are to meet in New York for the latest round of
labor negotiations.
Tuesday's session was hardly a meaty hearing. At times, no more
than three lawmakers were present; Waxman was among those who
didn't stick around to question the panel of witnesses.
The NFL has attempted to suspend the two Vikings, Kevin Williams
and Pat Williams, for violating its anti-doping policy last
season.
Goodell told reporters after the hearing he was reluctant to ask
for Congress' help.
"The issue here is that if the state court case allows any
athlete from Minnesota to be subject to a different standard,
all of professional sports' drug programs will be gutted," he
said.
The Vikings players tested positive in 2008 for the diuretic
bumetanide, which is banned by the NFL because it can mask the
presence of steroids. The players acknowledged taking the
over-the-counter weight loss supplement StarCaps, which did not
state on the label that it contained bumetanide. Neither player
is accused of taking steroids.
Smith, of the NFLPA, told Congress the administrator of the
league's steroids policy knew that StarCaps contained bumetanide
but did not inform the players.
"This should not be a 'gotcha' game," Smith said.
Goodell said after the hearing: "We do not do product-by-product
warnings. There are thousands of products out there."
Williams and Williams - who are not related - sued the NFL in
state court, arguing the league's testing violated Minnesota
laws. The case was moved to federal court, and the NFL players
union filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of the Williamses and
New Orleans Saints players also suspended.
In May, a federal judge dismissed the union's lawsuit and
several claims in the Williamses' case but sent two claims
involving Minnesota workplace laws back to state court. A judge
there issued an injunction prohibiting the NFL from suspending
the players and has scheduled the trial for March. Those
decisions were upheld by a federal appeals court panel.
The court ruling led the NFL to allow New Orleans defensive ends
Charles Grant and Will Smith, who had also been issued four-game
suspensions, to continue playing. Both players also tested
positive for bumetanide.
Goodell told Congress he is disappointed the union "refused to
support us on the issue" and said the lawsuit by the Vikings
players "expressly violated" the collective bargaining
agreement.
Smith said the way to fix the problem is through collective
bargaining, but Goodell said that won't work.
"This has gotten beyond the control of the two parties," Goodell
said.
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