The end is near

Since early March, NFL fans have been cloaked by darkness. Optimism was the tool of those in denial of what seemed to be a certainty with every passing day.

Now, those optimists have been rewarded. The light has finally broken through after 91 days of darkness.

Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal reported earlier today, via Twitter, that NFL insiders are expecting the framework of a labor deal to be in place in the next two weeks. The official labor agreement would be set in motion in the weeks following, according to Kaplan.

After three months of meetings, court orders, and finger-pointing, it appears the owners and players have realized what they stand to lose if the season doesn't begin on time.

The reported chasm between NFL owners and the Players Association was in the neighborhood of $9 billion.

Let's see that again, this time in full type: nine billion dollars. In a time where many Americans struggle to make enough money to avoid living paycheck-to-paycheck, the superpowers in the most popular sport in the U.S. are arguing over an unfathomably high amount of cash.

Owners and players weren't the only ones standing to lose substantial amounts of capital if the NFL season were to be shortened, or worse, canceled.

There is no better illustration of the impact an altered NFL season would have than the city most of the people reading this reside, Green Bay, Wis.

Green Bay is, by a very wide margin, the smallest market in the NFL. Green Bay's metropolitan area was estimated at just over 300,000 in 2008. The league's next smallest market, Buffalo, N.Y., has an estimated metropolitan population of more than 1.2 million.

The economic impact Green Bay would have taken without an NFL season is astounding. The city takes in millions every year thanks to one of the league's most popular teams, the Green Bay Packers.

But with no football, businesses throughout Green Bay, and the surrounding areas, would suffer massive blows. Restaurants, hotels, airports, and department stores would be hit hard by the lack of fans traveling into town for the 10 games which are held at Lambeau Field each year.

Titletown surely isn't the only city in the league that would have been hit hard by the lack of an NFL season, but it may have been the city hit hardest.

No longer is that a concern, thankfully. Maybe the parties involved realized how petty and greedy they were being. Or maybe they realized how their greed would be affected by the lack of a season this fall.

Regardless of the reason, it looks like we will have football in September. And it all starts here, in Titletown, when the last two Super Bowl champions - the Saints and Packers - kick off the 2011 NFL season.