ROSEMONT, Ill. — The NFL held a meeting of the franchise owners Wednesday at the Westin O'Hare to discuss contingency plans in case the owners opt to lock out the players for the 2011 season, a situation that becomes more real with each passing month.

One major presentation of the meeting included a proactive discussion of the rules as they would pertain to teams in an uncapped season in 2010, which would occur if the owners and the players' union cannot come to a new accord prior to a March deadline. New NFLPA union head DeMaurice Smith, who took over for Gene Upshaw in March, recently predicted that the owners already were planning on a work stoppage in two years.

“It is our intention to get a labor agreement,” commissioner Roger Goodell said to a small group of media. “All of our focus is on getting a labor agreement.”

Several owners rushed out of the meeting without comment, clearly not wanting to speak about the current climate of league peace, and the few who spoke about the league’s position didn’t offer much substantive news.

“I really didn’t have any vision of having anything more than just an update [on Wednesday],” Colts owner Jim Irsay said. “Updates on where everything is from a business-model standpoint and projections on ’09. I didn’t have any anticipation on [accomplishing] anything else.”

The owners opted out of the existing labor deal last year — the same one they agreed to extend at the 11th hour in 2006 by a 30-2 vote in one of then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s final acts — and are heading toward a lockout, most feel, once the labor agreement terminates following the ’10 season. Smith has begun warning his players to save their money over the next two seasons in case of a work stoppage.

The prevailing issue, naturally, is money and how it’s divvied up. The owners believe they have not received a large enough slice of the pie, as they pay out soaring player salaries and fund their pricey new stadiums. The players, who currently receive 60 percent of most league revenue, feel they should continue to reap the benefits of rising franchise values.

“It’s pretty important that we find ways to grow revenue and have a good working relationship with our partners in the [players'] union and do it with a system that can last long term,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft said.

Smith also has maintained that the league needs to be financially transparent and open their books completely to the players’ union to determine if the owners, as they claim, are actually losing money.

“There has been a significant amount of information that has been shared [with the union],” Goodell said. “They have audit rights. They have a significant amount of information, and if they feel they need more information, we’d be happy to sit with them at negotiations and discuss that.”

It was clear, too, that another closely related hot topic at Wednesday’s meeting was the league’s revenue streams. Although leaguewide ticket sales are down compared to this time in 2008, Goodell said he expected positive news on that front — especially as the start of the season draws closer.

“Things can change quickly,” Goodell said. “Look what Minnesota did yesterday [in signing Brett Favre]. We’ll have more information as we get closer to the season.”

The NFLPA and the owners have met twice in the past two months to negotiate a new deal, but Smith has said that the meetings have not featured much substantive progress. The NFL has said the meetings are not for show and that the talks have been constructive. Goodell said there are no new meetings scheduled with the union, though the league has “offered them a few dates, and we’re waiting to hear back,” Goodell said.

“I just think it’s too early to tell [if there will be a lockout],” Irsay said. “I am usually an optimist, and I think it’s something where, for all of us, for the game, it’s about trying to go forward and finding solutions to all of the problems that we have. That’s what the hope is. I think it’s a little early to gauge anything more than that right now. The goal and the hope is to continue to grow the game.”

The NFL’s last lockout was in 1987, a strike that lasted 24 days. Since then, Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NHL all have had labor strife that has led to missed games in each of those sports. Observers feel this impending battle could be the league’s most difficult labor impasse since the NFL shut down operations for two months during the 1982 season.

The ramifications of an uncapped year would change the financial landscape of the league dramatically, with the players’ union repeatedly vowing never to go back to a cap system once the league embarks on a cap-less season. But not having a cap doesn’t guarantee a windfall for the players; although there is no maximum that teams can spend, there also is no minimum. So, smaller-market teams likely would stockpile bargain-basement players with contracts that are commensurate with their level of NFL experience.

And where currently players with four accrued seasons can hit unrestricted free agency, it would require players to complete six years to reach the open market if no new agreement is reached in the meantime. Teams also would be able to shackle players with both a franchise tag and two transition tags per year to prevent their best few players from leaving, though they also would face serious limitations in free agency. Playoff teams reaching the final eight spots only would be able to sign a free agent if they lose one of their own, and the final four teams could sign only one free agent for every two they lose.

This showdown could be the largest hurdle of Goodell’s young career as commissioner. And it is cast against the backdrop of a shaky national economy in which the average NFL fan is having trouble understanding the nature of the negotiations, meaning they often boil it down to greedy players and owners wanting to increase their already fat paychecks.

“We’ve had losses and hiring freezes,” Texans owner Bob McNair said. “There has been resistance from fans. You can’t keep raising ticket prices. We’re in the entertainment business, and everyone is looking for the best value of how to spend their money. We’re no different.

“It’s a tough climate out there, and some parts of the country are being hit harder than others. And it’s reflected in ticket sales … but our sales are still holding up and we’re doing well, but it is a negative impact.”

Smith has sought to be proactive in communicating the message of the players’ situation, visiting various training camps, encouraging his players to save a quarter of their salary over the next two seasons in case of a lockout and meeting with media members often. One of Smith’s rallying cries has been the effect of a shutdown; he recently urged his players to be proactive in talking about how as many as 100,000 stadium employees would be out of work, at least temporarily. Most of the NFL stadiums are publicly funded.

In other league business, the owners:

• Extended the NBC TV contract through 2013. “It’s obvious that the NFL works as a TV product, and on free television, to attract mass audiences,” Goodell said. “It’s a great statement about our product and our partnerships with the broadcast networks.”
• Listened to a presentation of NFL Network's new "NFL RedZone" channel, not to be confused with DirecTV's Red Zone Channel, which is part of its NFL Sunday Ticket package. Goodell: “We think it’s a tremendous product that will be very much in demand by our consumers, and we’re looking forward to working with our partners in distributing it.”
• Approved the limited partnership transfer of the Dolphins for their new minority shareholders, musicians Gloria and Emilio Estefan and Marc Anthony.
• Announced that Riddell will remain the league’s official helmet through 2014.
• Discussed social networking media Web sites such as Twitter and hope to have a league policy soon. “We expect to give out some policy with respect to our game days and also other areas of our operations,” Goodell said. “We embrace [technology]. This is a great opportunity for us. And we want to use it effectively.”

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