One more thing before I go: Are the owners coming unhinged?

With a potential of a work stoppage looming off in the distance (something that too many of the NFL's media partners have ignored) it was interesting to read about comments from Jerry Jones concerning revenue sharing, and Roger Goodell's response.

There has been a simmering tension between the old school owners (e.g. the Rooney family, the Mara family, et al) and the new school owners (e.g. Jerry Jones, Dan Snyder, et al) ~ many of whom leveraged their respective finances to the hilt in order to obtain their respective franchise.

The ability of team's to compete in a real way (i.e. get to a Super Bowl), and not the sham competition that we see in major league baseball, is a direct result of the revenue sharing that was implemented decades ago under then NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle.

Jerry Jones has long chafed under the revenue sharing arrangement, and opted out of the NFL Properties revenue sharing plan years ago (after paying a fee to the league to do so). Additionally, Sports Illustrated reported nearly ten years ago of Jones' desire that teams retain all internet revenues for themselves while Patriots' owner Bob Kraft advocated a sharing of those revenues as well.

All of this is significant as it relates to the collective bargaining situation with the players. If the owners are divided amongst themselves it is not difficult to imagine a scenario in which the players can exploit that to their benefit.