Here Comes The Lockout!

By: Dan

Well, it has happened.

The long feared NFL collective bargaining stalemate has arrived. With it comes the risk of no football in 2011. While the NFL draft will still go on as scheduled on April 28 the rookies being selected won't know if they will actually report to the franchises that selected them.

These along with other fears that raise the specter of the cancellation of the 1994 World Series has football fans in a frenzy. The general public on the other had isn't as worried and has considered this to be a battle between billionares & millionares. That is not the case at all.

Sure the primary combatants are the owners and the players, but there are other casualties of this battle. They are the stadium vendors, maintanance crews, city governments, restaurants, and sports bars surrounding the stadiums. Football is the most popular sport in the country and as such provides a lot of revenue to all the aforementioned groups. With no football being played that revenue is lost. While a stadium can host concerts and other events it will hard to bring those events to them. Event planners know in advance to not book a stadium during football season & to add them now would be a risky move.

Without any revenue to provide income the businesses surrounding the stadiums would be in financial limbo, especially in this recession. City & county governments would lose their revenue provided by a cut in parking fees. Maintanance crews would be without work and would have to be thrown into a bleak job pool.

It may seem like a fight between people that have a lot of money, but it's the people that depend on their entertainment who will be paying the price if this doesn't get resolved soon.