The excitement of the Super Bowl still clings to the air like the arctic chill that has come upon us in recent weeks. Therefore, the prospect of further inclement weather is anything but welcome. However, the arrival of a repressing fog is impending. The weather is expected to arrive March 3, 2011 and has many football fans clambering for a way to escape the darkness that looms.

The NFL is in threat of a lockout for the 2011 season as owners and the NFL Players Association continue labor negotiations, attempting to agree on a new financial contract by the March 3 deadline. An agreement needs to be made by this date, otherwise fans will be without professional football next season.

If there is a lockout, there will be no procrastinating on homework in order to dedicate your Sunday to football. No Monday fun-days to boost your morale at the start of another week. There will be no mind- blowing games on Thursdays and Saturdays that are so epic, they are on a secret channel that doesn’t seem to exist on most cable packages.

Finally, there will be no fantasy football for those who wish they could play, but can only pretend by managing a team called Victorious Secret or Urine Trouble on their computer.

Listing everything that will be missing from our lives, given a lockout next season, might be enough for society to realize how much they will miss it, while others are thinking as they read that they couldn’t care less. Regardless of your passion for football, the very possibility of a lockout is absurd for many reasons.

In order to ensure that football will be played in the next five or so seasons, NFL owners and the NFLPA must agree on a new contract that compensates for the desires of both sides. NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith is as dumbfounded as anyone when it comes to the issue of a lockout.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones indicated months ago that the owners want to eliminate revenue sharing, allowing large market teams like the ‘Boys to keep all of their revenue. This would give big cities a monopolization of the NFL, creating the opportunity for Jones to be the George Steinbrenner of football.

The owners want players to participate in an 18 game season while taking a pay cut, which would also cut the preseason from four games to two. An Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll was taken of a large group of NFL fans, and 45 percent of the group supported it, but only 18 percent strongly favored an 18 game schedule.

If the fans of the game don’t want a lengthened schedule, the only thing driving the change is the possibility for profit. This alteration would increase the annual NFL revenue of $8 billion, which is currently split between the owners and the players. The owners demand a larger share.

Also included in the owners’ proposal is the demand that players pay for transportation and the use of practice facilities and locker rooms. Hearing all of this proves that money never sleeps, but that it drives ego  and catalyzes the worst quality in human beings: greed.

The NFLPA seems to have a more equitable proposal compared to the demands of an apparently ruthless, and wealthy, group of owners.

Smith and the NFLPA are pushing for full discretion from the owners by asking them to open their books. This will allow the union to see where its money is being spent and, more importantly, if the money is being spent ethically. If each side opens their books to each other, a partnership may be formed in order to ease negotiations now and in the future.

The owners can afford to withstand a lockout, which gives them a little more bargaining power as these two sides negotiate. Current contracts with ESPN and NBC ensure that the NFL will receive nearly $4 billion in TV revenue over the next year even if no games are played in 2011. A court settlement awarded the players only about $7 million of this amount, which means the majority of players will be without a source of revenue for a year.

The impact of this for the athletes is not detrimental given that the minimum salary for players begins at around $300,000 a year and increases incrementally according to league seniority. Despite this fact, long-term health issues have already given the NFLPA reason to bargain for increased benefits for retired players.

Now with the prospect of longer seasons, players will want increased salaries, as well. The players are not devoid of greed, but the inclusion of player health may be a plausible way for the union swing momentum in the favor of the NFLPA during current negotiations.

There are other considerations that will be included in the new labor agreement, but if both sides do not agree by March 3, there will be no football in 2011. There also will be no more money flowing into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s pocket.

Goodell’s current salary exceeds $10 million a year with bonuses, but if there is a lockout he promises to cut his salary to $1. Surrendering his salary is a noble promise, but everyone involved will need to make some concessions.

Let us hope that owners and players do not succumb to the temptation greed presents during the current labor discussions, which will subsequently preserve our precious Sunday afternoons of football in 2011.