US pro sports resist steroid bill
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The commissioners of professional baseball, basketball, soccer and hockey on Wednesday told the U.S. Congress the leagues would prefer to police themselves rather than have a law governing drug testing in sports.
But members of a panel examining the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs said the problem required a more unified approach, greater transparency and significant third-party involvement for players, management and fans to be confident their game was clean.
“I am not convinced an effective solution can be found in a system that allows those with a vested interest in the performance of the players and the leagues to police themselves,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.
“We need strong decisive action before the arms race of illegal steroids and a better-sports-through-chemistry attitude replaces hard work, dedication and honesty for our athletes and our kids,” the Florida Republican said.
Stearns has introduced legislation that would set a standard for professional sports based on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s rules observed by U.S. Olympic athletes. The penalties for positive tests would be the same as for Olympians - a two-year suspension for the first violation and a lifetime ban for the second.
Leagues that failed to comply would be subject to fines of $5 million for an initial offense and $1 million for each day of noncompliance thereafter. Athletes would have the right to appeal within 30 days.
“From our perspective, and I suspect from the perspective of many in Congress, the ability of baseball to police itself is preferable to legislation,” Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said. “If we cannot do it… I can understand why legislation would be considered by Congress.”
In March, Selig, along with subpoenaed current and former players, ran into a wall of criticism at a contentious hearing when Republicans and Democrats alike slammed baseball’s loophole-laced anti-drug policy and ridiculed the league’s 10-day suspension for a first positive test. Selig has since moved to toughen the policy by asking the players association to consider a lifetime ban for a third offense. He won praise from the House panel for his efforts.
National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern said his league could maintain “a sound drug testing policy” through collective bargaining with the players association. “A policy that is the product of agreement between management and labor will always be superior to one that is imposed from outside,” he said.
Donald Garber, commissioner of Major League Soccer, said the drug issue was “more appropriately” managed internally and National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman also said he did not see a need for legislation.
But Republican Rep. Joe Barton of Texas said legislation would send the message that amateur athletes should not be asked to do more than their professional counterparts. “How did we ever get into a position where steroids were swallowed like M&Ms and adults winked at each other when baseball players started growing arms as big as tree trunks?” he asked.
Olympian Frank Shorter told the panel he ran second to an East German athlete in the 1976 marathon despite posting a better time than in his gold-medal winning effort four years earlier. “We all expected, and later it was confirmed, that in 1976 the East Germans were benefiting from a state-sponsored doping program,” Shorter said. “I knew I could have improved my chances by taking steroids… I chose to compete clean and as a result, I finished second.”
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