The new 10-year deal between the National Football League players and team owners signed Thursday makes the NFL the first U.S. professional sports league to use blood testing for human growth hormone .

The bulk of the collective bargaining agreement to end the NFL's bitter labor dispute was agreed to last month, but certain elements still needed to be ironed out before the deal was ratified.

An NFL spokesman said the goal is to begin testing for HGH the first week of the regular season, which begins September 8. He added that over the next several weeks there will be discussions to finalize specific arrangements for the testing procedures.

The NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed to terms on July 25 to end their dispute and have worked around the clock since Saturday to finalize the agreement. The dispute had locked out players from team facilities and off-season training camps for more than four months.

The league's first shutdown since 1987 began when players and owners could not agree on how to divide $9.3 billion in annual revenues.