The NFL just released its 2011 regular season schedule with the big bang being on the opening weekend as the first Sunday of regular season games fall on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy that took place in New York City, Washington, DC, and Western Pennsylvania. The talk though is without a doubt about the current stall in negotations between the league owners and the players. The two sides have been at a standstill for the past several weeks and each and every passing day leads to the reality that the 2011 NFL season could be locked out.
This leads to the question to what would a work stoppage mean to the NFL if it were to happen in 2011. The National Football League has not been in this kind of situation since 1987 when the first couple weeks of the season were locked out to the contracted players and replacement players were used. This is one question answered.
If the work stoppage is still lingering by September, replacement players would be used. The fans would still flock to their favorite teams stadiums but the good bet is that they will not be sold out. There will still be football but the top name players would not be playing.
The big thing that would come from a lockout in the NFL this year would be that the image of the league would be tattered. The fans are the ones who pay the salaries of the players, the league, and everyone involved. If it was not for the fans paying for the tickets to the games, buying the television packages to watch games and buying souveniers and merchandise, well there would be no NFL.
If there was a work stoppage this year in the NFL it would mean that the players would have to go somewhere else to find employment and the upstart UFL would certainly like to have them. In the end it would be the fans who would be hurt the most from a work stoppage and it is them that make the professional football world go around.
