2011 NFL season

The playing of the 2011 NFL season, the 92nd regular season of the National Football League, is contingent upon the adoption of a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the league owners and the National Football League Players Association, the players' labor union. The season is tentatively scheduled to begin on Thursday, September 8, 2011 at Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers, Super Bowl XLV champion; and end with Super Bowl XLVI, the league's championship game, on February 5, 2012 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. However, a work stoppage is expected if there is no CBA in place, which may, depending on how long it lasts, shorten or cancel the entire season.

Potential labor dispute
NFL owners unanimously voted in 2008 to opt out of their current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) following the 2010 season. That last labor agreement gave players about 60 percent of the league’s $8 billion in revenue. A major reason for opting out is that the owners want a better deal to help pay for investments they have made on new stadiums and other expenditures. On the other hand, the players are very skeptical that the owners are losing money, and therefore are resisting to take the necessary pay cuts across the board.

As bargaining chips, the owners have proposed to extend the regular season from 16 to 18 games, establish a rookie wage scale, and implement other health and safety issues. But the players are concerned that these health and safety proposals would be offset by the potential injuries that might occur during those two extra games.

Anticipating a lockout initiated by the owners if no deal is made, a number of players have voted to decertify the union, which would expose the owners to potential antitrust lawsuits. However, the players would then lose the ability to collectively bargain with the owners. The league is also exempted from most facets of antitrust laws as a result of Public Law 89-800, passed in the wake of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970, complicating any potential lawsuit against the league.

The players union has also hired firms to lobby members of the U.S. Congress on their behalf, claiming that a work stoppage could potentially cost each NFL city $160 million in lost business, a figure that the league owners say is inflated.

If there is a work stoppage, it would technically begin on March 4, 2011, a day after the current CBA expires, but a provision ensures that the 2011 NFL Draft will still take place.

As for other contingency plans, the league has yet to make these public, including whether to temporarily change the postseason format (like after the 1982 strike). NASCAR, which traditionally holds its opening race the weekend following the Super Bowl, has postponed the start of their 2012 season back to February 26, to avoid competition with either a delayed Super Bowl or any extension of the season.

Schedule
If the entire 2011 season is played as scheduled, it would begin on Thursday, September 8, 2011 at Lambeau Field, with the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers as the host team; the last regular season games would be held on Sunday, January 1, 2012; the playoffs would then start on Saturday January 7, 2012; and Super Bowl XLVI, the league's championship game, on February 5, 2012 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Under the NFL's scheduling formula, intraconference and interconference matchups will be: Intraconference Interconference
 * AFC East vs. AFC West
 * AFC North vs. AFC South
 * NFC East vs. NFC West
 * NFC North vs. NFC South
 * AFC East vs. NFC East
 * AFC West vs. NFC North
 * AFC North vs. NFC West
 * AFC South vs. NFC South

The league's plans for an International Series game is on hold until the labor issues are resolved. The league needs a few months in advance to plan the logistics of such a game played on foreign soil, and a prolonged work stoppage would threaten to cancel it. If the International Series game can be held, the league is in negotiations with Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland as a potential host site. However, under the terms of the Bills Toronto Series agreement, a regular season game will still be scheduled to be held in Toronto.

Additionally, under the NFL's scheduling formula, the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins are the two AFC East teams eligible to face the Dallas Cowboys for the 2011 Thanksgiving Classic. The Detroit Lions will face an NFC team (the possibilities are the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers). The teams for the Thanksgiving nightcap on the NFL Network will be determined in the spring.

Christmas Day, December 25, 2011, falls on Sunday. The league's general policy when this happens is to hold the majority of its games during the day on Christmas Eve, with one or two National Football League Christmas games on Christmas evening.

Media
This will be the sixth season under the current television contracts with the league's television partners: CBS (all AFC Sunday afternoon away games and one Thanksgiving game), Fox (all NFC Sunday afternoon away games and one Thanksgiving game), NBC (17 Sunday night games and the kickoff game), ESPN (17 Monday night games over sixteen weeks), NFL Network (eight late-season games on Thursday and Saturday nights, including one Thanksgiving game), and DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket package. These contracts run through at least 2013.

On December 22, 2010, the league announced that its national radio contract with Westwood One has been extended through 2014. The league also extended its contract with Sirius XM Radio through 2015.

The league has yet to announce plans to compensate their media partners should the season be shortened or canceled if there is a work stoppage. The networks that carry the NFL have also yet to announce their own contingency plans, and possible alternate programming. A work stoppage could potentially cost these networks billions of dollars in ad revenue and other entertainment platforms that depend on the games being played. (Under the NFL's television contracts, the networks must still pay the league regardless of whether or not the league plays any games.) Meanwhile, the United Football League has set aside a portion of their television contract for their 2011 UFL season, as a potential package of replacement programs for the networks.

Uniforms
The New York Giants plan to adopt a new throwback uniform as their new alternate uniform. The throwback would replace their red alternate jerseys that the team wore from 2004–2007.

2011 will mark the last season that the Denver Broncos will be wearing their navy blue jerseys as their primary colored jersey, as the team plans to designate their orange alternate jersey the team's new primary jersey color for the 2012 NFL season. The move is being made due to overwhelming fan support to return to using orange as the team's primary home jersey color, which harkens back to the days of the Orange Crush Defense, as well as John Elway's return to the organization as the team's executive vice president of football operations. The team had considered making the switch for the 2011 season, but were too late to notify the NFL of the changes. The move will also likely mean the retirement of the Broncos' blue pants, which Elway was not a fan of as a player and would not aesthetically match up with the orange or white jerseys. The aforementioned navy blue jerseys, which had been the team's primary home jersey color since they were first introduced in 1997, are expected to be the team's new alternate colored jersey.

On February 9, 2011, the Buffalo Bills announced that the team plans to introduce redesigned uniforms for the 2011 NFL season. No details were given on what the uniforms would look like, but it was said that the charging buffalo logo would be kept. An official unveiling of the new uniforms will be at a fan appreciation event later this year. This would be the first full redesign of the Bills' uniforms since the 2002 NFL season.

Coaching changes
The uncertain labor issues were speculated to have a minimizing effect on coaching changes prior to the 2011 season, with owners predicted to be more hesitant than usual to hire a high-price, high-profile head coach. Eight coaches were fired either during or immediately after the 2010 NFL season, compared to three in the year prior; only one of the new hires (John Fox) had ever been a head coach in the NFL prior to their hirings or promotions.