I think what you're missing JH is that the other major sports want to have a system more like the NFL. Hockey locked their players out for an entire season in order to get a more NFL-like system. Baseball wanted to get a more NFL-like system, which lead to the players strike and the cancellation of a World Series. Basketball is about to lock their players out in order to get a more NFL-like system.
Why would the NFL want to emulate these other, less successful sports, that wish their economic model were more like the NFL's?