Upshaw Is Okay With Steroid Policy, By: Mark Maske
September 7, 2006
Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, said Wednesday that he sees no immediate need to make significant changes to the sport's steroid-testing program.
"I don't see any reason to change our program at all," Upshaw said. "If you have someone who's cheating, we'll catch him if the science allows it. We test enough. We test for everything we can test for, and we're always adding substances to the banned list when the science allows us to test for them. The only way to improve the drug program is to improve the science of the testing. When that happens, call me."
Upshaw's comments came on the same day that Roger Goodell said during his first news conference as NFL commissioner that he intends to explore possible measures for strengthening the steroid program, perhaps including more frequent testing of players and the addition of substances to the league's list of banned performance-enhancing drugs.
Goodell said he had opened discussions with Upshaw on the subject. But Upshaw, speaking earlier in the day, said he'd been given no indication in his conversations with NFL officials that the league wanted to make any major alterations to the steroid program at this point.
"I've never heard that from them," Upshaw said in a telephone interview.
Goodell, meeting with reporters at Giants Stadium after attending the New York Giants' practice, did not specify what changes to the steroid program he favors, if any. But Goodell, who was elected by the sport's 32 team owners last month to succeed the retiring Paul Tagliabue and took office Friday, said he was talking to Upshaw about a variety of issues related to the program.
"I think he shares my commitment that we're going to do everything possible to have the best possible drug program and to address these issues as quickly as we can using the technology and the science that exists," Goodell said. "Our program right now is an outstanding program. But it can always be improved, and that's how we're going to approach it."
Goodell said he had had one conversation with Upshaw in which the two discussed the frequency of testing and concluded that the number of tests should be increased only if they believed such a step would bolster the effectiveness of the program. Currently, all NFL players are tested for performance-enhancing drugs at least once per year, usually in training camp. Players are subject to random testing during the season and up to six tests each during the offseason. A first positive test results in the offending player being suspended four games without pay. A second positive test brings an eight-game suspension, and a third positive test results in a one-year suspension.
Members of Congress regularly have called the NFL's testing program the best in professional sports but also have said there's room for improvement. Upshaw and Tagliabue usually echoed that theme, acknowledging that the program had one unavoidable loophole because no reliable urine test for human growth hormone exists. Upshaw has said he would not favor blood-testing of players for growth hormone.
Goodell said Wednesday he has no indication that the NFL has an extensive problem with the use of growth hormone among its players but he thinks it's important for the league to be diligent in continuing to support research aimed at developing a reliable urine test for it.
League officials, in a story in Wednesday's editions of the New York Times, said that the league might seek modifications to the program as part of its annual review with the players' union of drug-testing policies. Goodell said Wednesday that changes to the program are made almost annually, and Upshaw said, "We do our annual reviews all the time. This would be no different."
Goodell also said Wednesday that he won't dismiss Bryant Gumbel as an announcer on the league-owned NFL Network. Tagliabue had said that Gumbel's status with the network would be up for discussion after the veteran broadcaster recently made highly critical remarks about the league, the owners and Upshaw during an HBO show. Goodell said he'd met with Gumbel last week to express his concerns but had decided against firing Gumbel.
The NFL Network is carrying regular season games for the first time this season and hired Gumbel as its play-by-play announcer for its eight broadcasts beginning on Thanksgiving.
"I think we have a very good understanding and respect for one another and what we expect, and he will be a very good announcer for us," Goodell said.
Goodell said one of the issues he's studying in his early days as commissioner is whether the league should take steps to nullify the competitive advantage that some teams get from crowd noise in their home stadiums. He said he likes having loud, enthusiastic crowds at games but wonders whether the offenses of visiting teams should have to suffer when their players can't hear quarterbacks' signals. Goodell said that he and members of the league's competition committee will study possible remedies, including a suggestion to place radio receivers in the helmets of other offensive players so they can hear the quarterback over the crowd noise.
Goodell indicated the league had completed a five-year extension of its collective bargaining agreement with its referees.
