New Drug Plan by Next Season--Rozelle : Commissioner Says League and Players’ Union to Work Together

The New England Patriots’ recent drug revelations will hasten a new, stronger drug policy for the National Football League, Commissioner Pete Rozelle said Friday.

“I’d say the ball is in my court,” Rozelle told the media at Aloha Stadium, site of Sunday’s Pro Bowl. “The burden is on our office to develop a plan.”

The commissioner said proposals for a new NFL drug plan, which the league and the players’ union will develop jointly, will be ready by spring, and the plan will be in use before next season.

“I think players and owners don’t like the problem and want to do something about it,” he said.

Rozelle said the goal is to strengthen the drug testing and to insure, as much as possible, the confidentiality of those players who volunteer for rehabilitation.

Rozelle said a new agreement is needed now because other clubs might go the “wildcat” route the Patriots took, with New England players voting last Monday to undergo voluntary drug testing.

The players’ union has filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming the Patriots’ voluntary drug testing violates the union’s contract with the league, which calls for testing of individuals after “reasonable cause” has been established. The NLRB said Friday that its investigation will start next week, and a decision on whether to go to court would be made within 45 days.

Rozelle said: “It would have been better if the Patriots had followed the policy guidelines of the collective bargaining agreement.”

The Patriots’ plan, however, was short-lived. After six Patriot players were identified Wednesday in the Boston Globe as having a drug problem, the players withdrew their support. Patriot player representative Brian Holloway said talks on a new drug plan would start at “ground zero” after the Pro Bowl.

The commissioner said that Patriot Coach Raymond Berry, while perhaps being more concerned about the drug problem than most coaches and management personnel, “erred” in not reporting to the league office the incident in Miami in which some Patriot players reportedly were involved in the use of drugs after a playoff victory over the Dolphins.

Rozelle was asked why the league did not make public earlier the fact that some Patriots had a drug problem. He said the league had not been informed that any New England players had failed drug tests during the season.

He said that under the current contract with the union, even the league is not told by the club when its players flunk a drug test and voluntarily enter a rehabilitation program.

Rozelle said a change is needed to address that matter in the new drug agreement.