When NFL owners meet on May 20 in Atlanta, they might emerge from the session with a message for the NFL Players Association:  “We’re exercising our right to terminate the labor contract two years early.”

Chris Mortensen of ESPN reports that the move could happen.  One management source told Mort that there’s a “high likelihood” that the decision will be made next week.  A union source told Mortensen that the players expect it to happen.

As we’ve pointed out in the past (and — what the hell? — we’ll point out again), the vote will be whether the owners wish to extend the deal by two years, which would take the agreement through the 2012 season (actually, the agreement would be effective until the 2013 draft).  And unless at least 24 of 32 owners vote in favor of extending the deal, the deal will not be extended, and will instead expire after the 2010 season (or, specifically, after the 2011 draft).

So nine “no” votes are needed.  We assume that the Bengals and the Bills will vote “no,” since they voted against the CBA in 2006.  Over the past several months, Pat Bowlen of the Broncos and Bob Kraft of the Patriots have expressed concerns regarding the amount of money that now goes to the players.  Assuming that there are other owners who don’t like the amount of money being used to fund the salary cap and several more who dislike the “supplemental revenue sharing” program that was adopted in conjunction with the 2006 CBA (either because of the amount of money their team has to devote to it or the amount of money their team gets from it), it won’t be hard to harvest the nine “no” votes.

If the deal isn’t extended, there will be no salary cap in 2010.  More importantly, 2009 will be the last year with a salary cap, and that will create all sorts of salary-cap headaches for the teams.  Indeed, it was the threat of the last capped year that resulted in the 2006 deal.

In our view, if the non-extension of the contract is inevitable, it makes sense to pull the plug sooner rather than later, so that a real sense of urgency will arise to work out a new agreement.