take on the NFL lockout

now obviously this is a little late..as the lockout ended earlier this week but I have to say that one thing is for sure.   When the NFL does something, they usually do it right.   So unlike the MLB lockout from a few years which alienated fans who only came back after records started falling to juiced up players with gigantic heads.  The NHL was already suffering from low-interest and probably lost the casual non Canadian in the process.  The NBA lost a lot of pizazz when Ewing negotiated that last terrible labor deal.  The one thing that all the other leagues did (and the NFL did in the 80's as well) is lose games which is the one thing that the NFL guys did not let it get to.  
So we lost a few off-season workout sessions, there were a few less media speculation about where Kevin Kolb was going but at the end of the day they settled and they set themselves up for the most exciting week of offseason ever.  Everytime I log onto my computer there is another major free-agent signing, a restructured contract or a surprising veteran cut..    Now the product on the field may very well suffer this year and I'm sure there are a lot of negatives to this whole thing from an organizational standpoint when it comes to integrating rookies and free-agents but for the average fan we sit around and thing..   We didn't lose a single regular season game, we still got the NFL draft, we're going to get an almost complete training camp and the only thing we 'lost' was the Hall of Fame game which I'd be happy to sacrifice to end any labor strife.   The NFL and the networks must be thrilled because for example in a week when the Mets trade Beltran, we had near record temperatures in NY, the debt ceiling thing is still a mess, TOR is bitching about cell-service the only thing anybody seems to care about is involves where Nnamdi is going to play next year.
So I say... the NFL should forget about their old system and adopt this one.     Have free-agent signing period begin like 2 days before training camps open, I'm sure you can get a ton of sponsorship on your affiliates just dying to fill up time during a sleepy summer.