There was something about Super Bowl XLII that just wasn’t right from the beginning. I couldn’t really put my finger on it, but it was like when you get home from work for dinner, the wife and kids are sitting around the table, and you can just feel the tension in the air, even though you’ve been assured by your family members that everything’s “fine.”

It was on Thursday of Super Bowl week at the NFL Players Association’s annual Super Bowl press conference that NFLPA president Troy Vincent wasted little time lifting the lid off the soon-to-be-boiling pot and gave us a peek at the very dark clouds on the NFL’s horizon.

Several minutes into his opening address he told us, “I don’t think it’s appropriate for myself and any of my colleagues to go back and forth again in the media to negotiate this deal or what is going to happen. I read the quotes of Mr. (Robert) Kraft and (Mr. Pat) Bowlen about their not liking what’s been taking place. From the very beginning of the season, during the offseason, with our regional directors to Gene (Upshaw), from club to club, and one thing I will confess, I’m confident that our players are more educated than ever. Every player knows from top to bottom how his particular owner, where they are moneywise.”

Vincent’s reference was clear. There is a clause in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and owners that allows the owners to opt out of the current CBA next November. If they do, 2009 would be the last season of the salary cap and 2010 would be an uncapped year. And Mr. Kraft and Mr. Bowlen are not the only owners to make clear their displeasure with the current CBA.

If there was any doubt as to where this was going, NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw slammed the door on it. After also assuring us he didn’t want to negotiate in the media, Upshaw said, “Troy’s mentioned a couple of names, and I’m not going to even mention those names, but I am aware of the quotes. And I’ve prepared the players for the worst.

Gene Upshaw

Finally, Upshaw explained the players’ game plan for what he believes is the fait accompli if the owners opt out of this deal. Said Upshaw: “We will talk about the strike; we will talk about a lockout. We will also spend some time talking about decertification. Then we’ll spend the rest (of our time) talking about an extension.”

He put an exclamation point on his line in the sand, saying, “We’re not going to agree to a deal that rolls back the economics. We are not hockey players, and they are not hockey owners. The economics in this league are good and getting better. And the players should get their fair share. They always will. I’m proud of where we are.”

Asked to respond to the players’ position at his annual state-of-the-league press conference, and how the fans might understand if the owners opt out, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell first stated his own aversion to negotiating in the media. Then he explained, “I don’t think it’s any secret a number of our owners are concerned with many aspects of the current labor deal. That’s something we need to improve, we need to address, and we will do that, directly with the union.”

Goodell added, “As it relates to what I would say to our fans, I think it is important for our fans to understand that the labor agreement is critically important to our business, and that our business has changed over the past several years. The cost of operating an NFL franchise, not only in labor costs that are 60 percent of the gross, but the cost in stadium operations and building stadiums, operating them, and capital improvements, these are all additional costs that we didn’t have just several years ago, and I think they need to be recognized in this labor agreement, and the union has done that. We think there is probably going to have to be some additional consideration in how they do that, but that’s the give-and-take of negotiation.”

I’m sure the bottom line on this one isn’t all that hard to find. While I am not intimate with the finances of any of the 32 NFL teams, I know every one of them is making money. And I know the NFL’s CBA is the envy of every professional sport, particularly the salary cap, which it will almost certainly never get back if it gets to 2010 and an uncapped season. We are not stupid, and we know those new stadiums that are costing the owners so much are also money machines printing new greenbacks.

This debate appears to be about greed, particularly on the owners’ side. If they allow it to do the kind of damage to the game it threatens, the fans will almost certainly never understand, and it won’t be the players they’ll blame.