Sunday’s thrilling 31-17 victory by the New Orleans Saints over the Indianapolis Colts was a fitting culmination of a two-week party in Miami. But as cloudless as the skies were and as warm as the breeze was, there are storm clouds on the horizon for the NFL, as the future of the league is going to be determined in the next four weeks.

On March 5, the league’s collective bargaining agreement expires and reverts to the previous agreement, which did not include a salary cap. With that genie out of the bottle, if unfettered spending takes hold, the owners may end up locking out the players in the fall of 2011.

Both sides are already building bunkers and talking tough. The owners have negotiated TV contracts for 2011, even if games are not played, and have hired the same legal minds who handled the NHL lockout in 2004-05, which led to the cancellation of an entire season. When NFL Players’ Association president DeMaurice Smith was asked about the likelihood of lockout on a scale of one to 10, he replied “a 14.”

But wait a minute here. The NFL truly is the goose that laid the golden egg, an $8-billion industry that puts Vegas casinos to shame. More Americans watched the 2009 Super Bowl than voted in the 2008 presidential election, more food is eaten on Super Bowl Sunday in the U.S. than any other day except Thanksgiving, and the NFL is twice as popular as Major League Baseball and three times more popular than the NBA according to various polls.

They wouldn’t jeopardize all that, would they?

Quite possibly. According to league commissioner Roger Goodell, it all comes down to basic economics. Of the league’s $3.6 billion increase in revenue since 2006, $2.6 billion has gone to players, and player costs have increased from $2.2 billion to $4.7 billion in the past decade. He also points to steady increases in stadium and capital improvement costs that didn’t exist 20 years ago.

“The system is not working for at least one side of the equation,” Goodell said last week in his annual hour-long Super Bowl press conference. “And that's the point. You have to have a system that works for everybody here. The economics really aren’t working.”

Granted, the owners aren’t in the same union-busting mood they were in 1987, when a protracted lockout that resulted in replacement players and a cozy relationship between management and then-union boss Gene Upshaw, ensured 23 years of labour peace. Although fans would be unlikely to side with billionaire fat-cat owners in a stoppage, the owners have made it clear that they have the resources and wherewithal to get the deal they want by whatever means necessary.

This will likely be the defining moment for Goodell – either he will successfully guide the league through a turbulent time or will be known as the guy who couldn’t figure out how divide a multi-billion-dollar pie at the peak of the league’s popularity and profitability.

And, as usual, football fans will be left on the sidelines, left to watch wealthy owners and rich players wrestle over the billions of dollars.

So congratulations to the Saints, who can finally claim a championship after 43 years of futility, for a well-deserved win that undoubtedly means a lot to the city of New Orleans. And congratulations to the NFL on one hell of a party in Miami.

Enjoy it while it lasts, because the lustre on the Lombardi Trophy may never be as bright.