NFL Lockout: It's All About Respect

Revenue sharing, a player pay cut, an 18-game schedule and a rookie wage scale will all be supposed reasons for what could become a lockout of the 2011 NFL season.

But the root cause is something much more basic, something that cannot be measured on a graph or a chart—respect.

Behind America’s true pastime lies the ongoing battle for power and respect between the NFL Players Association and NFL owners.

Battling over billions of dollars on a yearly basis, it's astonishing the last league lockout was in 1987.  But with two new “players” in this war, the league is headed for a long, nasty fight.

The NFL was marked by unparalleled stability from 1989 to 2009, as then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and former NFLPA Union President Gene Upshaw lived in harmony, avoiding work stoppages and forging a bond that led to record economic success. In 2006, Tagliabue and Upshaw successfully brokered a two-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement, keeping their legacy of labor success intact.

This compromised yet successful relationship ended with the 2006 retirement of Tagliabue and the 2008 passing of Upshaw. Since, there has been a battle for who will take control in this new era of leadership.

In 2006, Roger Goodell was hired as NFL Commissioner and has unleashed an alter ego known as "the Warden". No-tolerance policies and yearlong suspensions have become the norm in Goodell’s "No Fun League". Goodell has taken Tagliabue’s democracy and turned it into a mixture of Castro's and Stalin's dictatorships.

An equally fierce opponent has arisen in DeMaurice Smith. The NFLPA realized that the “good old boys” days of compromise and complacency were dead and brought in Smith, a tough, savvy Washington lawyer.

Over the past two years Goodell and Smith have exchanged pleasantries in the media, both attempting to win the PR battle by expressing their mutual hopes of coming to an agreement and avoiding a lockout. But make no mistake: Both Goodell and Smith know what is at stake. The NFL is a $9 billion per year business. Just as any loyal fan of The Apprentice knows, power is decided in the boardroom.

Just two weeks ago football power was decided on the field with players like Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews III and Troy Polamalu. For at least the next couple of months, it’s time for those stars to step aside as the battle for the most powerful person in sports will be waged over pens, legal documents and contracts.