NFL Lockout Good or Bad?

While no warm-blooded American football fan wants to think of a world without the NFL, it seems more likely as the weeks go by that the big wigs at the top of the NFL ladder are doing everything they can to take our favorite sport away from us. What will we do on Sundays now? Spending time with friends and family without bone crunching hits in the background doesn’t seem natural anymore.

This whole thing makes me think back on the NHL lockout in 2004. It was terrible that all the diehard fans had no NHL hockey to watch. Everyone had the same thoughts about that as we do now about the NFL. What will we do? The answer was simple and it was right in front of us: The AHL. All of a sudden a new league sprang into the forefront. Everyone went to those games because that was the biggest game in town. But what if the NFL does end up depriving its fans for the 2011 season? All of the money that the league makes on merchandise, tickets, concessions, etc. will still be in the people’s pockets. What will the football starved of America do with it?

The answer there is as simple as the NHL/AHL situation. People will still want to watch football. People who may have never been to or seen an arena football game will have the AFL on their radar. The view of the AFL could change drastically. No longer would we have to worry about the 2009 “season” happening again. People will come out in droves to watch their sport of choice. And for the people who don’t live in AFL markets, they can watch it on television. The league would have to get a station that would play a lot of their games, something similar to the ESPN deal that used to be in place. It may cost a little extra money, but if the AFL is the only game in town, there is a good chance that the money would be made back very quickly with merchandise and tickets. Not to mention the fact that now an entire nation of football fans will open their eyes to a new league…one that they may have never even thought of much. This could be a chance to show the world what we already know. The AFL is one of the most exciting, fast paced and enjoyable sports around.

So while I love the NFL as much as everyone else, it is just hard to look past the enormous potential that a lockout could open up for our league. Players from the NFL that still want to play could come and bring even more buzz to the AFL. There are just too many good things that could come out of this to make it completely bad. So…what do you think AFL Nation?

As always, thanks for reading...and remember

Those who can't play must judge like a pro.