Since this CBA thing started, we've heard that the issue is between the owners (the NFL) and the players (NFLPA). The NFL owners are only willing to share 56% of the league revenue with the NFLPA. The NFLPA has stating they want 60%, and nothing less. Yet, despite these claims, most media outlets are saying the if a new CBA is agreed upon, the salary cap will get set at $104 million. Well, according to ProFootballTalk.com (source entry updated 10:00 p.m. EST, March 2, 2006), if the salary cap is set for $104 milion after a new CBA is reached, that means that revenues shared with the players are set at 58%, which is the middle ground between what owners and players say they want.

So, it seems the NFL and the NFLPA have indeed agreed on something, and much of the last few days has been posturing. Knowing this, I'm sure many NFL fans are asking, What's the friggin' hold up!.

This is where it gets interesting. The real issue is not between the owners and players. It's within the owners. If the NFLPA gets 58% of the revenue, then team revenue sharing must expand in order for small market clubs to compete. This is not something that appeals to five owners: Jerry Jones (DAL), Daniel Snyder (WAS), Jonathan Kraft (NE), Malcolm Glazer (TB), and Joe Banner (PHI).

It's these five idiots that are holding up the new CBA.

All five gain something if there is an uncapped year in 2007. The salary cap has long been a thorn in Jerry Jones's side. He hasn't fielded a competitive team since the hard cap came into play. Meanwhile, the small market Colts field the "new" Triplets with money shared from the Cowboys. Owner Daniel Snyder is known throughout the NFL as a complete idiot, and the complexities of the cap limit his desire to just go out and spend what he wants on who he wants. I'm sure similar desires motivate Glazer, Banner, and the Kraft family. It's these five greedy, selfish boobs that are trying to prevent the owners from voting to expand shared revenue between the teams. If/when the owners agree on this, a new CBA will go forward and the NFL will remain the top sport in America. Money rolls in for everyone. Ratings soar. Everyone is happy.

If it doesn't, and the NFL goes into an uncapped year in 2007 and a labor stoppage, the blame can fall squarely on these knuckleheads who care more about their own clubs than the NFL in general. They are betraying the legacy of Wellington Mara, a man who had more integrity in his left nut than Jerry Jones has in his whole body.

I'm hoping the other 27 NFL owners ignore these five vampires and vote in favor of parity and labor harmony. Owners like Jones, Snyder, and Glazer (who fired Tony Dungy after he saved that pathetic Tampa Bay franchise) are a blight on the NFL, a stain on the fabric of a good league built to promote real competition. The best move owners can make is to make the voices of these parasites irrelevant, and press forward to a new CBA.