It’s the ultimate American tradition. Nothing like putting your feet up on a Sunday afternoon to watch a little NFL football. Unfortunately, football fans everywhere may have to find something else to do on Sundays now that the NFL has entered its first ever lockout.

The NFL lockout has been dubbed, “a battle of millionaires vs. billionaires.” Although the lockout may seem like a vast jungle of seven and eight digit numbers, the basics of it are really not that complicated. The NFL is currently making roughly ten billion dollars a year. The owners get about ten percent of that ten billion automatically, and the players get about half of the remaining money. The main issue is that the owners want to take more money automatically while the players would still get about half of the remaining, but smaller pot of money. As an employee of an average company would be, the players are unhappy that they are essentially being given less money for the same amount of work.

While money seems to be the main issue, it is not the only issue. The owners also wish to make more money by extending the season from sixteen games to eighteen games. Extending the season would likely mean eliminating two pre-season games to maintain the same time schedule. The Players Association views this as a safety issue.

“They shouldn’t change anything,” said senior football player David Jo. “It was fine the way it was.”

While it may appear to be the same amount of games overall, it’s important to remember that NFL teams do not play their starters for most of the pre-season games. During those games, they will only play one to two quarters. With two extra games, teams would be forced to play their starters more, which could lead to more injuries.

“It’s way too long,” said junior Sam Halle. “If they change it to an eighteen game season, they’ll eventually keep extending it until it’s like a twenty-eight game season.”

Two games may not seem like much, but one serious injury could end a career. The players argue that every game is a risk for them, and if younger players begin to get injured earlier in their careers, they will not be able to make a living.

Putting all millionaires and billionaires who can’t seem to compromise aside, let’s not forget who’s going to be affected the most should there be no 2011-2012 NFL season. What are NFL fans everywhere going to do on Sunday afternoons?

“I’m not doing anything [on Sundays],” said Jo. “The NFL season makes up my Sunday and keeps me entertained.”

 I would be deeply depressed to see bowling take that Sunday afternoon slot. Let’s just hope that the NFL resolves it’s issues before August. It’s been proven by the MLB and NHL, professional sports don’t recover well if a season is put on hold.

“I’m sure it will [recover],” said Halle. “People will always want to watch football, I just feel bad for the draft players that will miss their only opportunity to make the NFL.”