With the possibility of the NFL’s first work stoppage since 1987 drawing nearer and nearer, it seems that there’s one point that everyone—players, owners and fans alike—can agree on: they want football in 2011.
The two sides opted to extend talks another 24 hours on Thursday to delay the seemingly inevitable lockout until midnight, Eastern Time, Friday, but this will probably serve only to increase the intrigue surrounding this well-publicized clash between the league’s owners and players union.
This intrigue manifested itself on Thursday in a question posed at the White House.
President Barack Obama was asked about the labor negotiations yesterday, and allowed for only a short message--basically, "There's plenty of money to go around"--before pointing out that he is a busy man, what with the unrest in the Middle East, the crisis in Wisconsin, the reelection bid... Anyway, a busy man. One that certainly can’t devote a good deal of his time to worrying over professional football.
"I'm a big football fan," Obama said, "but I also think that for an industry that's making $9 billion a year in revenue, they can figure out how to divide it up in a sensible way and be true to their fans, who are the ones who obviously allow for all the money that they're making. So my expectation and hope is that they will resolve it without me intervening, because it turns out I've got a lot of other stuff to do."
Stay on top of the latest Dallas Cowboys news with NBCDFW.com. Follow NBC DFW Sports on Facebook or have breaking Cowboys news sent directly to your phone with Blue Star SMS alerts. Text "bluestar" to 622339 (NBCDFW) to subscribe to this free service. Read more about it here.
