The NFL lockout is now gone over triple digits in days, discussions between NFL owners and player reps have been held close to the chest. The date I keep hearing is JULY 15 and if there is no agreement made by then, we have to start looking at a serious loss in regular season games. Haven’t seen any reports on talks about more games per season, HGH testing, or rookie pay scale yet which will all need to be discussed. Little is being said but actual progress in what both sides have been campaigning is happening.
     If the lockout continues you can expect it to really affect everyday life, especially finances. In comparison to previous years since football has been King; beer and other alcohol sales would go down, bars will not make as much money. Players who live check to check, as well as the seasonal stadium employees, will add more people to the already competitive work force. The U.S. gambling world is projected to lose as much as $850 million and combined with online, international and illegal as much as $500 billion as reported in an article in the Huffington Post. Those are numbers I expect to hear when talking about defense budgets or the national debt. Not to mention websites wouldn’t be visited as much, hotels and public transportation would lose money. I think DUI’s would go down but I actually agree with Baltimore Raven’s veteran pro-bowl linebacker Ray Lewis when he said with no football, crime will go up. I feel couples would definitely argue more, men wouldn’t have their solace or a reason not to go to church.
     Cities like Nashville, TN which is home to Tennessee Titans forecast financial losses of up to $160 million if there is no football. Think of cities like New York with Giants and Jets or Dallas, the effects could be tremendous. People may be able to draw a little help from NCAA, UFL or AFL but there is nothing like the NFL. As the players go, the ones that are responsible with their money will be fine and so will the players who actually planned for it since it’s been a topic for the past two NFL seasons. But those who have not prepared or have no fiscal responsibility or someone to make their money make money can surely end up the topic of a VH1 reality series.
     You hear a lot about players doing things to occupy their time i.e. MMA, boxing, soccer, kids camps, etc. How long do you think they can really go without the sport they love or the check they get to play it? How long can their owners go pissing off their fan bases and not making money off football? More importantly, how long can America go before the whole country goes ape shit?

Article by J. Darien Stokes, contributing writer for STACKS Magazine

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