What do the owners want? Owners want to be compensated fairly for taking big risks on stadiums and putting up hundreds of millions of dollars to field a football team. First, they want players to accept a lower share of total revenue. Second, they're asking for two more regular season games to raise the total to 18. Third, they're asking to change the revenue-sharing rules that benefit "poorer" teams.

What do the players want? The players want to keep the basics of the collective bargaining agreement the owners signed in 2006, plus some additional considerations including greater post-retirement benefits.* Overall, the 2006 CBA represents a pretty good deal for them.

Do the owners have a right to be mad? Sure. Many of them are seeing diminishing returns to their investments due to player costs growing faster than revenue. The NFL should reward owners who provide the best amenities for their fans and players. Instead, the league is arguably discouraging state-of-the-art stadiums and facilities by forcing the highest-earning teams to subsidize the lowest revenue teams.

Consider the fact that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took out huge loans to build his new colossus, but he still has to cut million-dollar checks to subsidize some small market owners who snatch higher profits by slashing their costs. "There are owners who intentionally keep revenues low to maintain their spot in the NFL's lower [half] and ensure that they'll receive money under the current system," writes Yahoo! Sports' Michael Silver.

Do the players have a right to be mad? Sure. Understand, the median NFL salary is $770,000, the average career is a little over three years, and football injuries can last a lifetime. Most players are not excited about taking a pay cut in exchange for playing more games and increasing their chances at brain injury.

What's more, the owners claim the weak economy has hurt their profits. But since most NFL teams are privately owned, they won't open their books to prove it. Players are saying, Show us your bottom lines and then we'll talk about how strapped you are for money. Owners have refused. Here's what we do know: The only publicly owned NFL team, the Green Bay Packers, has seen operating profit fall from $34 million in 2006 to $9.8 million in 2010.

Who has the upper hand? The owners. In the event of a lockout, the NFL's nearly 2,000 players could lose $4.5 billion in salaries. The owners, on the other hand, will still have cash flow even without football. In a lockout, owners could slash expenses in half (no player salaries plus layoffs to other employees). But they could still recover up to half their expected revenue thanks to ongoing TV deals that broadcast networks cannot void even if there's no football airing on Sundays. (Silver explains more here.)