ANDY ARGUIN / MAX CRANSTON
Sports Writers

With an NFL lockout on the horizon, dread is spreading amongst the league’s owners and players; however, speculation has CFL fans south of the border crossing their fingers in anticipation of the return of high-profile athletes who have since made the departure to the big show.

NFL owners and players have agreed to a seven-day extension of their collective bargaining agreement. This essentially means more time for negotiations in discussing a new collective bargaining agreement before the owners will lock out the players.

The new deadline is March 11 and there still remains hope for a normal season. While this leaves room for cautious optimism, the odds of an agreement being reached by the end of the period are low.

There are several reasons for the looming lockout scenario — and they all revolve around money. From TV contracts to player salaries, the NFL is worth big bucks. The Green Bay Packers are the only publicly owned team and they are the only team to disclose their financial statements. The players union wants all teams to disclose their profit and loss statements, while the owners don’t think they should.

The conundrum raises the question of the extent of impact a potential NFL lockout will have on the CFL.

CFL’s outstanding Canadian, Andy Fantuz, signed an NFL contract with the Chicago Bears. Fantuz was one of the Riders’ best players last year, and a big part of their success. If the 2011 NFL season is played, Fantuz would be a part of the Bears organization. If released, he likely wouldn’t be available until September, nor would he be able to fill his spot on the Roughriders.

Fantuz is following a lifelong dream; he is trying to crack the roster in the biggest football league in the world — and an untimely lockout could leave the big guy with nowhere to go.

NFL players affected by the lockout would essentially have the year off. There would not be many players coming across the 49th parallel to play up north. The risk of injury is great in any football league, and there would certainly not be a great monetary reason for players to join the CFL. As well, players would need to commit to two years in the CFL, the pending NFL lockout will only last a year (if this happens at all).

An average career in the NFL is only a few years (three to four years), and thus a single-year lockout can have a massive impact on a player’s potential field time. Another option is for players to join the UFL, but that league looks like a sinkhole for money with losses over 80 million through two years of operations.

The NFL lockout can be compared with another bargaining agreement gone awry — the NHL lockout in 2004. The lockout lasted an entire season, but ended up working out favourably for the league. Upon returning to the ice, the NHL boasted higher attendance numbers and a renewed look at a 100-year-old game. The situation is somewhat different, as the NHL does not have the same fan base nor income the NFL has. During the lockout, NHL players signed contracts in other leagues — Russia’s KHL for instance. Players were able to hone their skills overseas, while still making enough to put food on the table (and drive Porsches).

In the past, the NFL has gone through trade disputes and strikes. In 1982, the NFL had a strike that lasted 57 days — it was about revenues and player salaries. The NFL tried and failed to organize “all-star” games, but there were not many all-stars because of the risk of injury and lack of health insurance. In 1987, a one-week strike led to the NFL using replacement players which ended up being a farcical fiasco. With today’s salaries and NFL’s gigantic income (Forbes listed it over $6 billion in 2006), the idea of replacements in 2011 doesn’t seem feasible.

It’s possible that contracts will be put in place for the players in the NFL. Gaging the popularity and ludicrous amount of money the NFL makes every year, it would be in their best interest to settle disputes and continue with a normal season. The lockout favoured the NHL because of rule changes and availability of cash (for contracts). The NFL has a large fan base and income to sustain its current trend. The NFLPA should settle small disputes and get on with more grid-iron — realistically that would be best for the league and its players.