Nearly two months after it had hoped to start blood testing for human growth hormone, and several days after two Congressmen announced there was a deal to begin collecting blood samples immediately, the N.F.L. and its players union remained at a standstill on Wednesday over the program.
This week, the N.F.L. sent a letter to the union saying that on Monday it was prepared to start collecting blood, which would be held until the final details of a testing plan were worked out. The union’s response was: No, not yet.
“We informed the N.F.L. yesterday that absent a collective agreement on several critical issues, blood collection is not ready to be implemented on Monday,” the union said in a statement Wednesday. “We have advised the players.”
Adolpho Birch, the league executive who oversees the drug-testing program, said: “It’s directly counter to what everyone in that room Friday heard. I agree with the union that they want some education, wanted to meet with Usada, which Usada offered to set up,” he said in reference to the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
“To say we didn’t have an understanding that the collections would begin forthwith? It was a novel way to break the impasse. We get the deterrence value now, and we understand that one day these are going to be tested. But we buy more time for the union to do what they feel like they need to do to give their members confidence. It was certainly clear we agreed in that room.”
If the stalemate continues, the sides may have to again meet with members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Last Friday, Representatives Darrell Issa, Republican of California, and Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, told union representatives and the league that if blood collection was not started within two weeks, they would be called back for a meeting that, the Congressmen told them, “would not be pretty,” according to two people who were present.
The proposal to begin the collection of blood — but not test it — came from Issa and Cummings. According to people at the meeting, Issa went around the table asking if everybody agreed to the idea and everyone did, including representatives from the union, which did not include its executive director, DeMaurice Smith.
When Issa said that he and Cummings were going to tell reporters that a deal had been reached, nobody objected. What also came through at the meeting, a person present said, was a lack of trust among players for the N.F.L. in the wake of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.
The N.F.L. and the union agreed to implement human growth hormone testing as part of the collective bargaining agreement completed in August, but first, the union had to agree to the testing method. Since then, the union has raised concerns about the test widely used on athletes, including those in the Olympics, and it has asked to see the population studies used to set the threshold for positive tests. The union said that committee members said that they would help obtain the necessary information from the World Anti-Doping Agency, which has said that more than enough information is available to validate the test.
On Wednesday, George Atallah, the union spokesman, said that process had not yet begun.
Atallah said that the union perceived the N.F.L.’s letter as an announcement that it planned to impose testing, which prompted the union’s response. He also said the union wanted blood drawn only for a purpose, not simply for the sake of drawing it to hold it for a later date.
“What is the purpose of that?” Atallah said. “To start a population study? To hold and test at a later time? To appease Congress? If the purpose is a population study, let’s discuss how we do that.”
He added: “The answer to people who think we’re stalling is nothing has changed. The only people who have delayed the process are the people withholding information about the reliability and effectiveness of the test.”
Birch said the N.F.L. would not attempt to begin blood collection next week unless the union agreed.
“We continue to think this thing has to be hashed out and done by agreement of all,” Birch said.
“It’s been the position of the league for years that it’s important that players understand an effective program is good for them,” he added. “I wouldn’t want to get into a situation where we are forcing things in a way that would make it appear that it’s not to the benefit of all.”
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