As the 2010-11 NFL season came to a close with the Packers’ 31-25 win over the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, the focus of the football world shifted to the uncertain future of the league.

If the owners of the 32 NFL teams do not reach a new collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association by March 4th, there will be a lockout. This would be a disastrous turn for the most profitable and popular sport in America. Millions of dollars in revenue would be thrown by the wayside if there is no football next season.

As meetings commence between the owners and the NFLPA, a crucial thing that stands in the way of an agreement is the idea of an 18-game regular season. The two-game increase was proposed by the owners because of fan response that they didn’t want to sit through four preseason football games anymore. This, of course, is not to mention the fact that the owners relish any opportunity to make more money.

Just as the owners are in favor of the longer season, the players stand firmly on the opposite side of the spectrum. In the new age of the NFL, in which players are consistently getting bigger, faster and stronger, the game is becoming more violent. At the end of every season, teams have a laundry list of men that have ended up on the season-ending, injured reserve list.

If two more games are tacked on to the regular season, naturally there will be a larger amount of players with season-ending injuries. This will lead to late-season games with a hodgepodge of career backups and unproven players that fans don’t want to see play anyway.

According to NFL.com, there has been a 27 percent increase in reported concussions from the 2009-10 season and a 34 percent increase from the 2008-09 season. This displays that each year as the game gets more violent, there will be more head injuries.

With modern technology, the NFL claims it’s doing more and more to help prevent concussions for players. But the league has shown hypocrisy in that if they really cared about the safety of the players, they wouldn’t make them play a longer season and give them a greater chance of getting hurt.

As profitable and strong as the NFL is, why change anything? The league continues to grow each year and an 18 game schedule will only mess with something that is nearly perfect.

If the players are locked out of the 2011-12 season, the NFL will lose fans at a rapid rate. Fans see the ongoing labor fight as billionaires (owners) against millionaires (players) with greed pouring from both sides, as the foundation of the war is who can make the most money. To many fans this sickens them and rightfully so, as it is preposterous that the two sides can’t come to terms and find some sort of a middle ground.

The NFL owners need to open up their minds and realize that an 18-game regular season may be extremely detrimental to the league as a whole. I say leave the NFL as it is and continue to let it grow and prosper.