NFL Owners and Players Can't Reach A Deal - Legal Battle to Ensue

Time has come, time has gone. Extension was given, extension has gone. Mediation requested, yet nothing seems to have been accomplished, and Friday the owners made it official by moving forward with locking out the players until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement can be reached.

Now, in case you're not familiar with what it is, or if you live in Wisconsin where there seem to be a lot of people who have forgotten what collective bargaining is, collective bargaining is when the group of workers in a specific field are allowed to have a say in the environment of their workplace. They are also allowed to negotiate things like health benefits, pay rates, etc... This is the whole purpose for having a union.

As with pretty much everything else in professional sports, the main issue revolving around the current work stoppage is money. The owners, claiming that they are losing money, are asking for a larger chunk of the $9 billion worth of revenue generated by the NFL. The players assert that the owners refuse to prove this, though there are many teams who have come forward ready to open their books for all to see. Many teams, however, have not offered to help prove the owner's point.

The players, however, while attempting to play the role of the victim, are doing something that isn't exactly on the up and up either. Knowing that a lockout was possible, the union threatened to decertify so that they can sue the league with an anti-trust lawsuit; claiming the owners are discriminating against a specific group of people. It's a crafty move that, frankly, made it so that they didn't have to make too much of an effort either. If you ask me, if you want to have the rights to collectively bargain, then you need to also accept the possibility of a lock out, not try to pull a little stunt like this so that you can get your way.

Bottom line here, the NFL as a whole is going to suffer from this. $9 billion of revenue, and they can't agree on a way to divide it. I have an idea. Why doesn't the NFL take that $9 billion that they are so indecisive about, and give it to public education. The state of Colorado alone is proposing to cut $300 million from the education budget, I bet that they could find a way to use it. So could the teachers in Wisconsin who now have lost their rights to collectively bargain.

All people involved in this lockout come off looking like greedy millionaires and billionaires crying about needing more money. Not good, especially in the current economy. Once again, until both of these parties can bring their big boy pants to work, both the league and the players will lose money and the fans.