The NFL collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on March 4, and as both owners and players remain entrenched, a lockout now seems all but inevitable, reports
Mediaweek. In a worst-case
scenario, the entire 2011-12 campaign wouldn't happen, resulting in hundreds of millions of lost ad revenue and sending media buyers scrambling for replacements. Indeed, the NFL plays such a critical
role in the TV market that even the loss of a handful of games could be catastrophic to the spring upfront.