First Person Fan Reaction: How Fans Can Help Prevent a Possible Lockout Next Season

As Americans, we love our football. Every year, fans flock to the supermarket to purchase their snacks and beverages. We race to stock up on everything we'll need for our tailgates. We look forward to seeing what new and clever Super Bowl commercials will appear. The Super Bowl is the biggest event of the year for advertising firms around the nation.

We're talking about billions of dollars in lost revenues, if we allow this lockout to happen.

It's sad when the owners can barely make a profit from the teams they put on the field. They've got stadium upkeep costs, health insurance, player's salaries, marketing, and lord knows how many other miscellaneous expenses to take care of.

College standouts are a major problem here. They receive millions without ever having to step on the field, in most cases these kids sit on the sideline their first season. In the meantime, their veteran counterparts are in the trenches fighting for the glory. We should have a problem with rookies making more than the veterans. This is one of the issues at hand.

I can't begin to fathom how much the owners are paying for health insurance. These guys are hurt all the time and they're talking about extending the season to 18 games. If they're going to extend the season, they're going to have to expand their rosters. The starting players WILL take a beating and we don't want to see anyone hurt. Anyone who's played the game knows injuries are going to happen. Pulled and strained muscles, broken bones, concussions, etc, happen all the time. The more you use your health insurance, the higher your premiums become.
We only have to look at what happened to the Metrodome in Minnesota, to understand the importance of keeping the stadiums up to date. We can't allow these types of things to happen to our stadiums.

As far as player's salaries go, I think it's time to curtail the guaranteed salaries. Instead, the players must agree to increased performance bonuses. If there is an increased performance bonus, then there also must be a performance penalty in place to protect the owner's investments.

Welcome to the pro's, boys! Time to man up and accept the responsibility.

1)Every team should provide mandatory financial education for their players.
A)Every player places a percentage of their salary into a team stock portfolio.
i)Great incentive to represent the team and city
ii)Great team motivator
2)Every team should provide public behavior training
3)Every team should have mandatory psychological screenings every season
A)As violent a game as football is, we need to ensure the player and their families safeties.

These are just a few examples of some things the league could do, if they're not already doing so.

The player's need to understand, we need them to reach an agreement. Failure to do so could have an immediate impact, negatively, on the economy. While you may be considering yourselves, first and foremost, stop and think about the jobs you could end up costing the country. Is your extra million dollars worth the millions of newly unemployed workers' dollars?

Remember how much your family gave up to get you to where you are now. Rather than waste your money, have it invested wisely. I know you're going to have temptations, we've seen players succumb to them every day. I'd much rather read about players surrounding themselves with good people.

We, as fans, love our teams. We love our players. You, as players, think the owners owe you. Without the fans, the owners wouldn't be able to pay your salaries. If you snub the fans, you're really snubbing yourselves.

Let the players know what you think and how you feel. They can't ignore everyone.