U.S. Reps Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) in a letter sent last week to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith wrote the NFLPA is “using stall tactics to avoid human growth hormone testing,” according to Michael O’Keeffe of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Issa, the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chair, and Cummings, the panel's ranking Democrat, said that they were “frustrated that no progress has been made to implement HGH testing.” They wrote, "We have been disappointed by the lack of movement on this important issue. Every week of football played without a test endangers clean players and sends a message to young athletes that HGH is tolerated at the game's highest level." Issa and Cummings in the letter said that they “were disappointed that union officials had not accepted an invitation from the United States Anti-Doping Agency to tour its testing facility.” The congressmen wrote that the decision not to accept the offer and “other signals indicate a lack of urgency on the players part to live up to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement they ratified this summer” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/29). The letter said the committee has not received “any adequate justification” for why the NFLPA has not allowed the collection of blood samples (N.Y. TIMES, 10/29). CBS’ Charley Casserly reported what upset the committee members was “they offered to help the NFLPA solve any questions they might have with the testing procedures for HGH." Casserly: "The NFLPA didn’t take them up on it. What Congress wants to see from the group is an interest in solving the problem. They have not seen that from the NFLPA." Casserly noted the next step will be "hauling people to Capitol Hill and start talking to them and it won’t just be … union officials or league officials. They’re going to be bring in players and they told me they’re going to put them under oath" (“The NFL Today,” CBS, 10/30).
IN THE HUNT: In K.C., Adam Teicher noted Chiefs Chair & CEO Clark Hunt was selected by Goodell as Chair of the NFL's Int'l Committee, which “oversees the NFL’s annual regular-season game played in London.” Hunt said that there “may be a time when the Chiefs volunteer to give up a game at Arrowhead Stadium so they can play one in a foreign land.” Hunt: “It’s something we may be interested in. I definitely can’t sit here and say that we’ve made the decision that it would be good for us. There are a lot of things that go into that decision. … We understand that taking a home game away from the market affects people” (K.C. STAR, 10/28).
