The NFL is heading for an uncapped 2010 season, but according to Yahoo! Sports (via Profootballtalk.com), the popular league might be dangerously close to a lockout in 2011.
So it’s no shocker to hear, via ProFootballTalk, that the conversations that the two sides are having about the collective-bargaining agreement are reportedly going “poorly.” There are once-optimistic players who are now thinking that a lockout is coming in 2011.
The supposed deadline for a new CBA to be worked out is March of next year. The old CBA got chucked aside when the owners decided to opt out of it in the spring of 2008.
The people most affected by a 2011 lockout would the fans. The NFL is wildly popular, but people are already turned off by how much athlete’s are making in a poor economy. If they wind up holding out because the NFLPA and the league can’t strike a new CBA deal, then the NFL will lose fans just like the MLB did when baseball held a strike in the mid 90s.
I couldn’t imagine a year without football and I don’t want to. Hopefully the NFLPA is realistic with its demands and we will see a cap in place in 2010. If that can’t happen, then let’s hope a deal is struck in March of next year so we’ll have football in the fall of 2011.
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