Write On Sports LLC - "The NFL Makes Progress With Its New Drug Policy" by Troy Somero

The NFL Makes Progress With Its New Drug Policy

2007-01-25 12:18:55 | By: Troy Somero

With the specter of Shawne Merriman making the Pro Bowl and emerging as a lead candidate for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award looming after Merriman's four-game suspension for violating the league's substance policy, the National Football League needed to make changes to its drug policy. Fortunately for the league, its players, and it fans, the NFL Players' Association is a much more understanding and compromising group than the player's union in other major sports (for example, the MLBPA). The relationship between Gene Upshaw and the other executives at 280 Park Avenue allowed for a speedy and promising group of changes to the league's policy towards substance abusers.

The biggest improvement on the previous policy is an increase in random testing from seven players per team per week to ten players per team per week. According to an NFL.com release, "These changes bring the total number of steroid tests conducted annually by the NFL to 12,000."

This is great news for people who might have been concerned that some players could escape testing previously (even though the odds were heavily against such risk-takers), however more progress could have been taken here. Why can't the NFL test every player every week for banned substances? Why not test on game day to ensure that substances players might use on game day would not go undetected? (Believe it or not, there are definitely substances out there that players could take on Sunday that could be easily masked during the week between games). I understand that the NFLPA might not compromise to this extreme, but if the union was truly concerned about the health of the game and its participants this extra step would not be too extreme. The other major sports leagues – despite having relatively weaker policies overall - test every player at least twice during the regular season. This mandatory testing of every player is definitely a policy the NFL should adopt if it is truly concerned with the perception of the game post-Merriman-gate.

The testing for EPO (erythropoietin) is a major step for professional sports ushered in by the NFL today. EPO works to increase the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood, which in turn increases the aerobic capacity of the muscles. The substance has been identified as a major doping agent in endurence sports such a cycling and long-distance running. By becoming the first North American professional sports league to test for EPO, the NFL is sending a positive message that doping is doping, whether it is doping via anabolic steriods or doping via pumping extra red blood cells into the body. Considering that taking EPO in excess is connected to heart complications, the NFL is demonstrating its concern with both player health and cheating through this testing method.

Falling in line with the more chemical changes to the drug polciy, the league will also extend carbon isotope ratio testing (CIR Testing). Previously, CIR Testing was only used to confirm positive tests for testosterone but now all players will be subject to random testing here as well. This is important because it is another example of the fact that no player will escape the various forms of testing. Just because a player may not appear to be cheating does not necessarily mean he is not cheating. Subjecting all players to the same test is the best way to ensure that no one individual is unfairly being singled out.

Another move made by the NFL - a $500,000 grant to the UCLA Olympic testing laboratory for the development of new testing methods for human growth hormone (HGH) – is very necessary considering the press that HGH has been receiving lately. HGH occurs naturally in the body (as regulated by the pituitary gland) and serves numerous purposes, including height growth, increase of muscle mass and stimulation of the immune system. However, HGH is also being used by some progressively cheating athletes as an alternative to other illegal substances that are more easily detected via testing. An article in the January 29th issue of ESPN the Magazine looks at HGH from both sides: an illegal, performance-enhancing substance and a healing substance needed in order for NFL players to heal from their weekly wear-and-tear. Whether you see HGH as another illegal substance or a necessary painkiller, the fact that the NFL is finally starting to look into the benefits and losses from HGH rather than banning the substance outright demonstrates that the health of the athletes, not fan perception, is a major concern of the league here.

Despite all of these initiatives, the best decision made by the league with respect to the new drug policy is the decision to take away a player's signing bonus if he violates the substance abuse policy. Sometimes the threat of future health problems and the embarrassment garnered by being labeled by public opinion as a cheater is not enough of a deterrent to stop players from cheating (see Shawne Merriman). However, if players can cheat and escape with a minor suspension and still earn performance-based bonuses then the system is not very effective. Like the random testing policy, the NFL still needs to go further here. I would recommend a suspension of pay for the entire season, the elimination for consideration for any postseason awards, and suspension from the playoffs if a player is caught cheating. A loss of a signing bonus can be effective if this is the Arena Football League and players are making five figures a year, but many NFL players still make millions of dollars in spite of their bonuses. Again, it is unlikely that the NFLPA would agree to such a stringent policy, but if the NFL is truly dedicated to weeding out cheating entirely then this is a step it should be willing to take.

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In the amazing book Freakonomics, authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner discuss the effects of an Israeli daycare center that had the problem of parents habitually picking their children up late. As a result of this problem, the center decided to start fining the parents $3 per child if the child's parent was ten or more minutes late. The result: more parents, not less parents, picked their children up late over the next couple weeks. The reason for this was that before most of the parents that showed up late felt guilty about their tardiness and therefore tried not to let it happen again. Once the fine was enacted, it was a small enough fine for the parents to arrive late but not feel any guilt about it, because after all they are being punished for showing up late and therefore karma has caught up with them.

The NFL is facing a similar scenario now. It is clear that people are violating the rules as they stand now and that additional punishment needs to be enacted. However, will that punishment be enough? Will a player feel badly about getting suspended for a few days and losing a couple hundred thousand dollars in pay if it is a penance he pays for his actions, actions that will obviously result in more fame and more notoriety? The coming season will answer this question for us, but it is my belief that if the NFL is undoubtedly dedicated to stopping the use of illegal, performance-enhancing substances then an even more drastic policy will need to be enacted to punish the cheaters enough to cripple their wallets and their careers.