New NFL Drug Testing Policy Prompts Betting Markets
Recently, it was announced that, under a new collective bargaining agreement, players in this season's NFL have agreed to drug testing for Human Growth Hormone (HGH).
Drug testing, until now, has not included HGH, which could mean bad news for players who have been dabbling with this drug.
But what is the likelihood of these players actually taking the drug?
Betting markets have opened on this point at sites such as Bodog.
Odds are currently as follows:
Will an NFL player test positive for HGH during the 2011 NFL Season (including playoffs)?
Yes - 200
No + 150
Another is: What will be the position of the first player to test positive for HGH during the 2011 NFL Season?
Offense - 110
Defense - 130
and:
Defensive Line - 5/2
Offensive Line - 3/1
Wide receiver/tight end - 4/1
Safety/DB - 4/1
Linebacker - 4/1
Running back - 5/1
Quarterback - 7/1
Kicker/Punter - 10/1
Random Testing
The NFL and the players' union reached an agreement last week that would allow HGH testing under the sports drug program. Issues such as how the tests are taken still have to be negotiated.
Adolpho Birch, who is the NFL's senior vice president of law and labor policy, said that the league has developed a way to test the players that "is not overly disruptive to the clubs and respects the game-day process."
Birch said that the key to this type of testing is the randomness of it, and that every player is subject to and eligible for testing on a year-round basis, with no notice.
Limitations negotiated with the union mean that a player may only be tested up to six times per off-season, from February until the start of the training camp season.
"I would certainly expect players will be tested in an amount that will be meaningful," said Birch. "But more important, the idea is not so much the number of tests performed, but it is the constant threat of testing that provides the key to deterrence under this particular program."
