WASHINGTON — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell plans to
ask Congress for legislation that would protect collective bargaining agreements
from state law challenges, like the one that led to blocking the suspensions of
two players who tested positive for banned substances.
"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," Goodell
said in prepared testimony for a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing
Tuesday. He said that recent court decisions "call into question the continued
viability of the steroid policies of the NFL and other national sports
organizations."
A copy of Goodell's testimony was obtained Monday by The
Associated Press.
The NFL had attempted to suspend Minnesota Vikings Pat
Williams and Kevin Williams for four games, but the players sued the league 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 who were 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 8. In September, a federal appeals court panel agreed with those
decisions, essentially allowing the Williamses to continue playing while the
case proceeds in state court.
The use of state law to block the suspensions, Goodell
said, "illustrates with compelling force the need for legislation here." He
complained that the Williamses, who are not related, are able to work under
different conditions than players outside Minnesota.
"Professional athletes and their collective bargaining
representatives should not be permitted to manipulate state statutes as a means
to gain a competitive advantage," Goodell said.
He also criticized the NFL Players Association.
"With the help of the NFLPA, the Vikings players have
been able to prolong their litigation for almost one year now," Goodell said.
Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball's executive vice
president of labor relations, also discussed a legislative remedy in his
testimony, saying, "a narrowly drafted statute could solve the problem faced by
professional sports" while preserving the role of collective bargaining in drug
programs without interfering with states' prerogatives.
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.
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 tested positive after using
StarCaps.
DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL players
union, said that this case differs from others. He said that Dr. John Lombardo,
who oversees the league's steroid policy, learned that StarCaps contained
bumetanide, but did not inform the players.
"Frankly, the fundamental failure of that doctor to
ensure immediate disclosure of the fact that StarCaps included bumetanide
violated his paramount duty as a doctor – to protect patients, in this case, our
players," Smith said in his prepared testimony, also obtained by The AP. Smith
said the league should have instructed people answering its hot line about what
was in StarCaps.
Smith called for changes to the league-union steroid
policy that would mandate the NFL notify players when it learns that a product
contains a banned substance. He also said that disputes should be handled by
outside, impartial arbitration, rather than the commissioner or his designee.
"There must be measures put in place to assure that the
dangers of a given product, once they become known, must be revealed to the
players immediately," Smith said.
Michael Weiner, general counsel at the Major League
Baseball Players Association, said that legislation is unnecessary. A bill to
pre-empt state law, he argued, "would stand for the unusual proposition that
parties to a collective bargaining agreement can contract for that which is
illegal under state law."
Weiner, who is scheduled to replace Donald Fehr as union
head during the offseason, said that a product like StarCaps should never have
been allowed on the market in the first place and argued that the current
regulation of supplements is not working.