An NFL Lockout Would Cost Nashville How Much?

The NFLPA has sent out a report detailing how a lockout would affect each city in the league. This is probably the first shot across the bow as both sides will be throwing darts at each other as the lockout looms. The estimated cost on Nashville would be $160 million dollars in revenue. This includes all of economic revenue that the team generates for Nashville. That has to raise some eyebrows as this situation draws closer and closer with each passing week in the league. The owners and players are locked in a deep battle over the collective bargaining agreement that expires in March and this is surely going to get ugly when the season is over.

The $160 million figure would definitely put a dent in the economy here in Nashville. The lockout would cost the U.S. economy an estimated $5 billion in lost wages, taxes and other revenue if the 2011 season is canceled. Players union chief DeMaurice Smith all but assured a lockout, saying that he was 99% sure it would happen. This would be truly devastating if it did because the game in the preeminent sport in America right now. Most every red blood American male lives for Sunday’s so he can watch his favorite team. And with the way the economy already is, it would have a far reaching effect on jobs as far as ticket vendors, food vendors, parking attendants, concessions, security guards and various other jobs that people need to support themselves. They would be lost for the year. LP field would be rendered almost useless for the year as it would only host Tennessee State football games and other functions that don’t compare to revenue generated by the Titans games. It angers me as a fan to think that the owners who make billions off their teams and the players, who make millions from the owners, can’t come to a conclusion that works for both sides. I can understand from the player’s standpoint that they won’t accept an 18% pay cut. The NFL is a money making machine, churning out $5 billion dollars a year, so why do the player’s have to take such a big hit? Could you imagine if you worked for a big deep-pocketed corporation and they told you, even though you’re doing job right, you have to take that type of pay cut. What would you say? That’s what I thought.





This will turn out to be a game of politics as both sides will try to make themselves look like the victims. The true victims in a situation like this are you and I reading this, known as the fans. When greed gets in the way of the game, it’s not good for anybody. The owners do have rights and some views that I agree on but again this is a give and take world. They want the players to play an 18 game schedule as well as take a pay cut and that is just unreasonable to anyone that has sense. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail in this because no football would make for some angry men in the fall of next year.