Tagliabue Toughens Drug, Alcohol Policy : NFL: First case of abuse could result in four-game suspension. Commissioner makes change without consulting players.

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, acting without the advice or consent of the NFL Players Assn., is stiffening league policy against players who abuse alcohol or drugs.

Tagliabue said Wednesday that he has the authority to suspend for a period of four games, without pay, any player found guilty of a first violation--either drunk driving or breaking a drug law.

NFLPA representatives immediately lauded the commissioner for his zeal but protested any action in this area that is taken unilaterally, without consulting with the players.

“Tagliabue never called anybody here,” said Tim English, a players’ association attorney.

Said NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw: “This is just another case of the NFL doing whatever they want to do.”

The players had authorized the commissioner to take disciplinary action after a second alcohol- or drug-related conviction.

“What he is doing now is changing the rules on his own,” Upshaw said.

Tagliabue didn’t, however, change the rules on drunk driving by coaches.

“The new policy does not apply to nonplayers,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

The league and the players’ association have been in conflict since 1987, when their 1982 collective bargaining agreement expired. Before 1987, disciplinary policy originated in consultations between the players and the league office.

If Tagliabue is taunting the players’ association to take an unpopular public stand on alcohol or drugs, an NFLPA spokesman said: “We aren’t planning to do that.”

But as usual, players’ association lawyers will be available to serve any member.

“We’re still here,” Upshaw said. “If some player wants to challenge (Tagliabue’s new policy), we will do it. That’s what we’re in the business of doing--suing.”

The NFLPA has won five court cases from the NFL since last March.

Aiello said the suspensions won’t be automatic, adding: “The new (policy) gives the commissioner the flexibility to (suspend) if he feels it’s necessary.”

Drunk driving has been an occasional problem on some NFL clubs. The Minnesota Vikings once had four players in court at the same time on such charges, and in a widely publicized Chicago case not long ago, Bear Coach Mike Ditka was arrested for drunk driving.

But Upshaw said: “There’s a right way and a wrong way to attack the problem.”

The NFL will begin accepting applications for expansion teams and set Sept. 16 as the deadline to apply for a franchise.

The application process was set by the recently appointed NFL Expansion Committee, which held its first meeting Wednesday.

Among the cities mentioned as candidates are Baltimore, St. Louis and Oakland, which had NFL teams move elsewhere, as well as Charlotte, N.C., Memphis, Tenn., Jacksonville, Fla., Sacramento and San Antonio.

NFL clubs voted on May 22 to add two teams for the 1994 season.