According to PFT and a couple other sources, if the owners lose in the 8th Circuit Appellate Court they may just stomp their foot indignantly, kick you in the shins, take their toys and go home (i.e. close up shop all together). As PFT puts it, "the league accepts the reality that it will take a lot of heat if it pursues this path, but it could end up being the only way to squeeze the players into accepting the owners' terms, especially if the Eighth Circuit agrees with Judge Nelson."

"If the owners cease all operations, the NFL would not be violating the court order because there would be no lockout. Instead, the league essentially would be going out of business - something for which the NFL repeatedly chided the union in the weeks and months preceding decertification of the NFLPA."

Those scalawags!

This is getting ridiculous. I don't think (I hope not anyway) that will happen but if it does rest assured, as my colleagues at The Baltimore Beatdown pointed out to me today, there's always the Lingerie Football League! That would put a whole new spin on the term "Fantasy Football." Pfffffhaaaaaaaaa! 

Ok but seriously, if that happens, other leagues/institutions like NCAA Football and the UFL would look to reap the benefits. As Cris Collinsworth brought up:

"I was just trying to imagine a Fall without NFL football. Would colleges move games to Sunday? My guess is YES. Be careful NFL."

Collinsworth is the best.

On a totally unrelated note, when he was asked about whether Mike Brown would trade Carson Palmer, he replied, "I think the Bengals will trade him. They just have to wait for the lockout to lift. Time to move on in Cincy." Hah! Take that John Clayton.