by Luke Finkel

The NFL recently locked out players for the first time since 1987, when the players went on strike.

What this means to the average football fan is there is a very real chance there will be no NFL games played this year.

As opposed to the player strike of 1987, this lockout is caused by the owners.

The two parties – the owners and the NFL Players Association – cannot agree on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). This document is what decides what portion of the money goes to both parties.  The NFL is a multi-billion-dollar industry.

It really comes down to millionaires fighting billionaires. The owners are trying to take money away from the players to pay for lagging ticket sales, lower merchandise sales, and so on. It’s not fair to the players, or the fans when the owners try to suck up every cent they can.

I completely side with the players on this one. They are being forced to play a very physical and violent game, while the owners are trying to cut their pay.

To get this CBA settled the NFL, and the NFLPA brought in a mediator to help settle disputes, such as 18-game or 16-game season.

An 18-game season would just mean more wear and tear on players. It would also mess up the record books once again. The NFL season was increased from 14 to 16 games years ago.

As of April 26, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson of St. Paul, Minnesota ended the NFL lockout after 45 days of players, coaches, owners, and agents waiting.

Though the lockout has been lifted, players still aren’t allowed to workout at their teams’ facilities.

This is creating more questions than answers as the league still doesn’t know what they can and can’t do regarding team workouts, free agency, coaches communicating with their players, etc.

With Judge Nelson’s ruling, both the owners and players still need to come up with a new CBA, which still means there will be no football until everyone can come to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Especially with the 2011 NFL Draft this weekend, the front offices of the teams will not know whether they can trade their players, trade the rights to players they have drafted, and whether they can negotiate with the picks.

A message to the NFL, from me: let’s play some ball.