Commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA)
Position:
Con to the question "Should Performance Enhancing Drugs (Such as Steroids) Be Accepted in Sports?"
Reasoning:
"The use by athletes of steroids and other performance-enhancing substances is an issue implicating the fundamental integrity of all athletic competition. The NBA, as a result, has a strong and continuing interest in ensuring that these drugs are not used by our players and that our games are conducted on a fair and legitimate basis. Steroids and performance-enhancing drugs also pose serious risks to the health of our players, which provides a separate and compelling rationale for preventing their use in the NBA. Finally, we cannot ignore the fact that young people – especially young athletes – look up to and attempt to emulate professional athletes. It is therefore incumbent the NBA and its players to keep performance-enhancing substances out of our game in order to send the message to all our young fans that these substances have no legitimate place in athletic competition."
Written Testimony for the hearing on "Drugs in Sports: Compromising the Health of Athletes and Undermining the Integrity of Competition," before the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, Feb. 27, 2008
Experts Individuals with MDs, JDs, PhDs, or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to performance enhancing drugs and sports. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to performance enhancing drugs and sports.
Involvement and Affiliations:
Commissioner, National Basketball Association (NBA), Feb. 1, 1984-present
Oversaw the creation of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the 1976 settlement between the NBA and its players leading to free agency, the collective bargaining agreement that introduced the salary cap and revenue sharing, the professional sports' first anti-drug agreement, and the creation of NBA Entertainment
Executive Vice President, NBA, 1980-1984
General Counsel, NBA, 1978-1980
Chair Emeritus, Trustees of Columbia University
Member, Council on Foreign Relations
Member, Boards of Beth Israel Medical Center, Rutgers University Foundation, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission, Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, Museum of Television and Radio, and Jazz At Lincoln Center
Top 10 Pro & Con Arguments
