StarCaps Case Makes NFL Consider Outsourcing Drug Testing

The NFL might consider giving control of its steroid-testing program to an outside agency if it determines that it cannot continue to run the program effectively in cooperation with the players’ union, a top league official said Thursday. […] The acknowledgement comes after court rulings have put on hold the suspensions of two Minnesota Vikings players who tested positive for a banned substance. While rejecting most of the players’ claims, courts ruled two issues involving Minnesota workplace laws needed to be decided by a state court. That, in the league’s view, makes players on one team subject to a different set of drug-testing rules than players on other teams, based on which state they play in.

“It doesn’t serve anyone’s interests to have a program like this fragmented by wide-ranging state laws,” Jeff Pash, the league counsel and executive vice president of labor, said in a telephone interview from New York. “If we can’t administer the program on our own, we might have to turn to an outside entity like WADA [the World Anti-Doping Agency]. One thing we don’t want to do is shut the program down, because it has served everyone well.”

Pash also mentioned the possibility that control of the testing program potentially could be placed under the jurisdiction of a federal agency.