It's about the money

Two points about the NFL during this Super Bowl weekend:
1. Sure the weather has been horrendous in North Texas this week. It's back somewhat to normal, because Friday's snow melted the next day. But it's ridiculous to say that the area shouldn't have another Super Bowl because a once-in-20-years-or-more storm happened to hit this year. The NFL deserves some credit for sticking up for its sponsor/partners who will lose expected revenue because the influx of visitors to the area is (a) smaller than it otherwise would be and (b) increasingly holed up in hotel rooms keeping warm instead of out on the towns involved. After all, the NFL is getting almost as much ticket/parking/merchandise revenue as it expected.
The same NFL and its apologists who seem so concerned about inclement weather continue to schedule the big game for February, possibly the worst weather month of all, and in areas even farther north, such as Indianapolis and New Jersey.
2. And this money grab really has me hot, the negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement have only one issue. That issue is green on the back and includes dollar signs.
The owners, who give lip service to player safety, want to add two games to the regular season, despite knowing full well that the longer schedule statistically means we could expect 12.5 per cent more injuries. Also, you can bet that while acknowledging almost in so many words that preseason exhibitions suck, the league would not lower prices for the remaining exhibitions below the price for regular-season games.
Reportedly, the players would not receive a pro rata 12.5 per cent salary increase, nor would there be a higher roster limit and therefore more jobs. It would make sense at least to make the current practice squad players part of the regular roster or to make all 53 players on the current active roster eligible to play in each game. For their part, the players aren't really willing to play even for just a 12.5 per cent increase. Their position is very logical. A player's career isn't measured so much in games as in years. A few veteran players currently could be paid for 128 games in eight seasons (16 X 8 = 128). Theoretically, players entering the league when it goes to an 18 game season could be paid in seven seasons for 126 gams (18 X 7 = 126). But with a 12.5 per cent higher chance of getting hurt, he might not even make it through that seventh season, let alone into an eighth. Keep in mind that this is a league in which the average player lasts about three years.
3. A bonus gripe: The idea of a lockout to take effect within weeks after the Super Bowl is ludicrous. That's the same as if your boss gave your whole company two weeks off at the same time, then said it was locking you out for those two weeks. There's not really anything for NFL players to be locked out of until the season begins, unless you want to count the ridiculous OTAs.
We probably should expect more players, established veterans at least, simply to adopt the Brett Favre stance and not show up until mid-August.