NFL and NFLPA Cancel Labor Negotiations: Will They Ever Get Their Act Together?

The NFL and the NFL Player's Association canceled a meeting that was scheduled for today after hours of negotiations yesterday. 

According to multiple reports, these negotiations were canceled due to the fact that no progress was made during talks yesterday and that neither side has been willing to budge on its demands. 

It has also been made clear that the two biggest reasons for the lack of bargaining is due to the owners' demands to have an 18-game regular season and to receive $1 billion per year in givebacks from the players.

This is starting to get out of hand. The owners and the players are both financially sound and have no reason to be making the demands that they are making.  Both the players and owners will make more money in the next 10 years than most Americans do in their entire lives.

The owners and NFLPA both need to realize that this CBA is bigger than them.  The NFL will recover if there is a lockout, but the fans will be the ones who will be affected the most. 

America loves its sports and football is its bread and butter.  After the most watched Super Bowl of all time, it makes absolutely no sense why these two sides cannot work out an agreeement.

A lockout prevents fans from enjoying the offseason and wondering who their teams are going to add in free agency.  A lockout, if it continues into training camp, will prevent fans from going to watch their team practice before the season, which is an annual tradition for many fans.

The owners and NFLPA are looking a lot more like Democrats and Republicans that refuse to work together, rather than people who make their careers off of each other.

Without the owners, the players would have no teams to play for and without the players, the owners would have no teams.

Roger Goodell stated a week ago that he wanted to have a labor agreement done in the next couple of weeks, but with canceled meetings, that is much less likely to happen, barring some sort of miracle.

Someone needs to step up on both sides of the table, whether it be Roger Goodell or DeMaurice Smith, the owners need to be willing to make agreements and the NFLPA needs to be flexible. 

If things continue the way they are and neither side will lighten up on its demands, then we may not be watching any NFL games in 2011.

Alicia Witt Radha Mitchell Melissa Rycroft Chloë Sevigny Janet Jackson