There Will Be a Lockout In 2011

The reason the Cowboys and other teams are not going all out in free agency is a lockout is all but assured for 2011..

The owners want more of the revenue..Under the current collective bargaining agreement the players get 60% of the revenues..The owners want that capped at 50% and they want a rookie salary cap..

The owners have already opted out of the agreement..that's why there is no cap this season..The biggest problem..say the owners..is the revenue levels have fell to all time lows for owners..In a not too distant past the owners averaged about 10% profit on all revenues..Now it is down to 5-7% and the small market teams are really feeling the pinch..They are the driving force behind this move. They are locked into a revenue stream that is only going down.

Take a look at New Orleans and Indianapolis..The state of Louisiana had to pay the Saints 186 million in 2001 to keep them in town though the 2010 season..Due to the economy that deal would be hard to do today..There is no money available to keep the Saints in town..They may be forced to leave the city..

In Indianapolis the taxpayers funded Lucas Oil Stadium to the tune of 87%..The other 13% was covered by the sale of the naming rights for 120 million..It looks like the city is already needing a bail out..Revenues anticipated to be over fifteen million over the cost of operating the stadium have fell below the break even level to the tune of over ten million a year..

Even large market teams are falling on hard times. The new Giants stadium has been unable to sell nearly half of the club seats or over 5K a game. They also have only sold half of the over 200 suites..This from a team with 140K people on their season ticket waiting list..They are just too expensive..

The dirty little secret is the NFL teams have insurance..They signed an agreement with Direct TV that pays them one billion dollars a year..The agreement runs from 2011-2014 and here is the kicker..They are guaranteed to get that money in 2011 even if there is a lockout..So each team will receive appx 30 million and have zero expenses..Most will lay off employees and cut expenses to the bone..

All NFL fans should enjoy this season and a Super Bowl at the new Cowboys Stadium..It may be the last time we will see the players for quite some time..I already hear rumors of the owners using replacement players..This could get ugly and last a long time..