NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Seeks Congressional Amendment to Avoide Future Williams Suits

By Brian Murphy, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Nov. 3--NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wants Congress to amend the Labor Management Relations Act to protect the league's collective bargaining agreement from state-law challenges such as those Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams are using to fight their suspensions.

Goodell plans to testify to a House subcommittee today that changes are necessary so players cannot use state law to circumvent the sport's drug-testing policies and gain unfair advantage over their fellow competitors.

"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," Goodell said in an opening statement for the subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

The Pioneer Press obtained a copy of testimony Goodell is prepared to give at today's hearing.

Court rulings allowing the Williamses to sue the NFL in Hennepin County for allegedly violating Minnesota's strict drug-testing standards threaten the credibility of steroids policies in the NFL and other professional sports leagues, according to Goodell.

Moreover, they interfere with the league's authority to discipline players under the collective bargaining process.

"How can a professional sports league and a union negotiate an effective steroid policy when neither party can be sure exactly what agreement it is striking?" he asks.

The commissioner accused the NFL Players Association of tacitly

endorsing the Williamses' lawsuit to sabotage their labor agreement and allow the Vikings Pro Bowlers to avoid punishment.

"With the help of the NFLPA, the Vikings players have been able to prolong their litigation for almost one year now. And this delay has succeeded even though we strongly believe that the players' state law claims have no merit," Goodell wrote.

In a closely scrutinized case that could be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Williamses accuse the NFL of violating Minnesota law by suspending them four games for testing positive for the banned substance, bumetanide.

The league and NFLPA classify bumetanide as a masking agent for steroids, although the Williamses are not accused of taking steroids. It was an undisclosed ingredient found in an over-the-counter diuretic, StarCaps, they were using.

Stymied by an appellate court's ruling allowing the Williamses' lawsuit to proceed, the NFL lobbied Congress to intervene, engaging lawmakers who compelled Major League Baseball to strengthen its anti-steroids policies.

Although the Williamses are suing the league individually, the union has argued that NFL scientists knew StarCaps was contaminated as early as 2006 but neglected to warn players about its findings and instead used the information to punish them.

NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith is scheduled to testify today that the league violated its responsibilities under the Policy for Anabolic Steroids and Related Substances.

"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 wrote in his opening statement, also obtained by the Pioneer Press.

The union wants to require the league to notify players when a specific product is found to contain a banned substance and amend the policy to have an impartial arbitrator rule on violations and discipline instead of the league officials under the current system.

"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," Smith wrote.

Because the NFL lobbied to appear on Capitol Hill, the union is prepared for tough questioning, particularly from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who led congressional investigations into steroids abuse in baseball.

The tenor of the hearing could determine cooperation on the issue between the union and league or deepen the distrust generated by StarCaps and toughen upcoming negotiations on a new labor agreement.

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