JSU students hope NFL lockout is averted

Julian Taylor
Staff Writer

Have you ever thought about how it would be with no football season or not being able to watch your favorite team play every Sunday and Monday night?

This may become a reality if the stalemate between the National Football League (NFL) players and owners continues and they don’t reach an agreement.

Jackson State University’s Cobe Bonds, a sophomore computer science major from Jackson, Miss.,  is upset with the prospect of no football this season.

“Missing a game is OK for me on Sunday and Monday nights, but no football season at all would devastate my love for football,” said Bonds.

The lockout could put a halt to the 2011 NFL season if the coaches and football players do not reach a collective bargaining agreement.

According to bleacherreport.com, the main dispute over the newly proposed bargaining agreement centers on the amount of money that the owners want to take as “credit” from the revenue pool.

The current offer remains at 51-49 percent in favor of the owners, but the players are adamant in their fight for a 50-50 split. In the previous agreement, the owners took $1billion from the pool of approximately $9 billion, but now they are trying to increase that number to 2.4$ billion, citing “the economic realities of the era” as reasoning.”

This isn’t the first season the NFL had a lockout. In 1987 the league experienced a lockout because the players wanted a right to free agency and wanted a bigger share of the league’s growing revenue. Unfortunately the players didn’t win that battle. The owners got replacement players to play in place of those protesting.

The year of the 1987 lockout would also be the year Jackson State University alumnus Walter Payton would retire from the NFL.

The popular football game “Madden” which debuted in 1988 would also have problems if the lockout occurs. Electronic Arts, the maker of Madden could reportedly lose a $165 million if there isn’t a season.

Senior Computer Technology major Derrick Kennedy from Gulfport, Miss., said:  “I have been playing Madden since ’06, but before that I never understood football until I actually played the game. The game has taught me a lot and information on football players and plays. If the new one doesn’t come out I’m pretty sure people will still play Madden 11 because the Madden game franchise will always be incredible no matter what year the game is.”

JSU sophomore and urban and regional planning major Dereck McCain II said, “Being prepared for the lockout is very important because you never know what the future is going to hold for you, so I understand what  Chad (Ochocinco, wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals) was doing. He was looking out for him and his family and that was a smart decision on his part.”  Ochocinco tried out for a local Kansas City soccer amateur team.

Nobody knows the future of the NFL since agreement of “money” is always a problem in sports. The players and coaches must come to agreement before the season begins in August or either the lockout will be official.