With the bonanza surrounding the Super Bowl dying down and the conclusion of the NFL season upon us, there’s even less getting in the way of the elephant in every football fan‘s room. The festering fear that’s been lying in wait for every football fan is now becoming clearer than ever.

There may be no NFL football played next season because the players and owners can’t allocate billions of dollars in a way that makes everybody happy.

That’s the short of it. The long version is that the two groups are at odds, the owners of the 32 NFL franchises – along with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell – and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA). The problem? The collective bargaining agreement, which was agreed upon between the two groups in 2006, expires on Mar. 3, 2011, and neither side is budging on demands.

To be clear, the players are not going on strike or even attempting to. It’s a lockout, which means that the players can’t play until either a deal is made or the players’ union is de-certified (not going to happen). That means no scab players or re-enactment of “The Replacements.”

Much of the hard information out there on the labor dispute is coming through NFLPA Assistant Executive Director for External Affairs, George Atallah. According to a piece he wrote for ESPN.com, the owners are calling for an overhaul of the collective bargaining agreement between the two groups because the “economic model in the NFL doesn’t work.”

This is one of the most insane things I’ve ever heard.

The NFL, easily the most profitable sports league in the United States, is raking in money while the rest of the country mires in recession and the NBA is hemorrhaging money. Just look at the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets, who were recently taken over by the league.

In this economy, it would normally be easy to believe that the owners are struggling. This, of course, would be easier to argue were it not for the $2 billion renewal of Monday Night Football between ESPN and the NFL, according to Attalah’s piece.

That’s right, one game a week.

Other interesting tidbits Atallah put out there: “In 2010, 65 of the top 100 watched sporting events in the U.S. were NFL games. Eighteen of the top 20 viewed telecasts this television season were NFL games, and we haven’t even seen the playoffs yet. Revenues are up. Sponsorships are up. Every television ad for this year’s Super Bowl was sold months ago. All signs and indicators point to extraordinary success and rapid growth for the business of football.”

But how much of the total revenue are the players actually getting? Just over 57 percent of “total revenue,” according to a letter the NFLPA sent out to sports editors nationwide, clarifying the labor situation. That, of course, is after NFL owners have already taken out a sizeable amount for “expense credits.” Before that amount is shaved off, the players actually get 50.6 percent of “all revenue.” Both of those percentages are down more than 4.5 percent since 2000.

What are the owners asking for? One billion during the first year of the new collective bargaining agreement, according to Attalah’s piece. In addition, they’re also asking for two regular season games to be added to the schedule, while removing two preseason games.

This, meanwhile, is occurring while the league is flaunting its new “player safety” rules that fine players for illegal hits. Sometimes. Usually just when receivers and quarterbacks get hit. Watch a replay of a game, and you’ll see running backs get speared in the side of the head with no mention of it from the refs or announcers.

So, in this back-and-forth between the players and owners, what do the players want? To play football and get paid money for it, the same way they have in the past.

While the owners are asking for a rehaul with the deadline for the new deal approaching, the NFLPA has offered to simply extend the current deal for another year while they work out a long-term solution.

The Owners: “Nope. The NFL (read: the owners) isn’t making money. What, proof? Don’t worry about it. Look, the players are threatening a work stoppage. Go talk to them.”

Don’t worry about the owners though. They’ll still make money through the TV deals, even if the players don’t play a down.

The NFL Players Association does a great job of selling themselves as the oppressed workers in this argument. By all accounts, they should be in the right. Instead, the owners are sitting back and waiting for NFL fans to turn on them in the case of a lockout. Theoretically, one would think they had all the leverage, except for one little thing: they’re millionaire celebrities.

I understand the plight of the players, I really do. These are people who train for an occupation since they’re in elementary school, often forgo education to focus on this career and often either don’t make it or stick around for a couple years trying to stay on a team. Add to this the fact that, according to a piece for the New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell, they suffer brain damage similar to an Alzheimer’s patient later on in life.

But I just don’t care.

A lot of other fans don’t care either; they just really want to watch football. The website NFLLockout.com, sponsored by the NFLPA, as already garnered a lot of attention – particularly with its ad that ran during the Super Bowl – and a lot of signatures for its petition to “block the lockout.”

NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith isn’t going to get an improved deal for the players. There’s no leverage. The fans will turn on the players once there’s even a hint of missed games for the 2011-12 season and the owners will be sitting pretty, telling them “We told you so.”

So all that fans can really hope for is that the NFLPA just tries to get something out of a new bargaining agreement rather than everything. It could be not extending the season, or a much-needed rehaul of benefits of former players. Both sides will probably agree on a retooling of high-priced rookie contracts.

All that matter’s though is that it gets done by Mar. 11. If it doesn’t, the lockout begins.

Nick O’Malley is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].