If the current NFL players don’t want to play for the millions of dollars they’re getting now, there are a lot of hungry college kids, CFL & UFL players who want the fame and fortune that come with making an NFL roster.

Until the players find someone else willing to pay them equal to or more than the NFL owners are, how much leverage do they really have ?

No matter which one “blinks first” whether the owners lock them out or the players go on strike, the public (and fans) WILL NOT CARE who did it first.

All they are going to care about is when their preseason football is gone, and then their regular season football is gone, and they will blame BOTH parties, because let’s be fair here, both parties ARE to blame for this mess.

And both parties are going to have to make concessions if there is to be a 2011/2012 NFL season.

And THAT is not going to happen until the players stop getting paid and all of a sudden realize what it’s like to have to try and pay for health care, a mortgage, cars, etc. with a REAL working job, and not just one you do 16-20 weeks out of the year. Most of the players didn’t even realize their health insurance was 2,500 a month! I’m willing to be some have mortgage’s that are double that at least…

Otherwise…the biggest beneficiary is going to be MLB.

And up until the past couple of days I would have said the UFL…except when one of your franchises folds and you can’t pay your players their final check, that usually isn’t a good sign.

Hello XFL and the USFL. The UFL will be joining you soon.

How’s that different than a firefighter or a police officer or a soldier? They don’t make mininum 300k. Just like every other job you sign up knowing the risks versus the reward. It seems in America we are obsessed with self-obsessed players and reality tv trashstars.

I do feel for the unintended consequences such as background employees/parking attendants/ect who support each team potentially out of work.

Batterman is not making any sense. The players want a lockout so they can decertify so they can avoid a real lockout. Well, that sounds a lot like they don’t want a lockout. In fact, if they don’t decertify before the (fake?) lockout, they have to wait six months to file their anti-trust suit. The players have more to lose in the short-term than the owners do, especially with the structure of the last TV deal. I bet you see a lot of players in the UFL or other leagues, just to keep the lights on.

I guess you can say bad things about the players, but I think that the owners are definitely more in the wrong. Sure the players get paid a lot to play a game, but football is a very dangerous sport and a lot of players end up with life long problems. Some poor schmuck who makes the league minimum for a couple of years and then can’t walk right for the rest of his life didn’t get all that great a deal.

I don’t always agree with you. But I do like these pieces a lot.

The NFL has become huge, the biggest sport in the country. One would think that the players and the owners can easily see the harm done to Major League Baseball and the NHL by work stopages in those sports in the past, and act to prevent an action that will no doubt result in a backlash that could kill all the growth and popularity that have benefitted both sides for so long.

Fans are not going to care whether the players struck or the owners locked them out. All we’ll think is that these morons were too stupid to figure out a way to fairly slice up the zillions of dollars that they are lucky enough to get for this game, and that they uglied up our favorite sport by taking it away over who gets what of too much.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

When its your job to do nothing but sit around all day and discuss the issues, how much time does it really take??

Figure it out and GET BACK TO F#$KING WORK!!!

Disgraceful.

If they don’t play in 2011 I will just watch college football. It’s more entertaining to watch anyway.

This hurts the Owners, it hurts the Players and it hurts the Fans.

If all sides understand it would be a bad thing for this lockout to happen, why can’t they come to a formidable conclusion?

Idiots.

Stop referring to it as a “lockout” or “strike”. What fans will understand and sit up and take notice to is if you call it what it really is…. Refer to this as an NFL work stoppage. That’s non-denominational in guilt and it means the very thing fans simply don’t want to see…a stoppage in NFL football.

I could care less what it’s called, I’ll be pissed if any portion of the offseason and/or the preseason/season is affected by these greed mongers known as NFL owners and NFL Players…

So, call it what fans understand the most. After it’s said and done, I could care less whether it’s a lockout or strike…I’ll be upset if there is a stoppage in work, period…