I say we are sans NFL football this season. I hope to hell that doesn't occur, but we've seen this game before. Conventional wisdom is always that it would be stupid on both sides parts not to reach an agreement. Therefore, an agreement will no doubt be reached. And yet we know that the very nature of negotiation is that both sides gravitate to extreme positions so that when compromise finally is reached, they will get what at a minimum what was sought after from the beginning. The problem is, by starting at those extremes, it creates a situation where coming to some kind of common ground in any reasonable time is almost impossible. And when the difficulty in bridging the gulf between the two camps becomes obvious, all kinds of posturing and attacking begins.
If Goodell manages to avoid a work stoppage given the current situation, it will be a career-defining moment. I'm just not particularly confident that the two sides can come together without some serious mutual pain being involved, and the only scenario that provides that kind of painful leverage is a lost season.
I hope I'm wrong.