What That Guy said!
(Note that Baseball escapes this because Congress declared them a legal monopoly.)
I suspect that the lack of a labor agreement would hurt players as much as the owners. For one thing, I expect that stars would suck up all the big bucks and leave less salary room than today for role players and benchwarmers who make up most of a roster. Retirement and health benefits, discipline policy (think TO) are affected. For all the news about drug suspensions, the labor agreement builds in some protections for players so that they may continue their career in spite of three, four, multiple violations of the drug policy. And on it goes.
Players may lose as much as the owners without an agreement. Negotiating leveragewill be severly weakened without union backing (the union is threatening to decertify). So, this isn't just a question of who cracks first.
Both sides prosper with an agreement. I'm not sure who's being the dick here.
Gawd, I miss Pete Rozelle!