"The NFL lockout is now in its 11th week. Yet just 10 weeks from this Sunday, the 2011 season is slated to officially begin when the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears kick off the preseason with the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 7.

But how many weeks can pass until the league's current calendar of events will be seriously jeopardized?

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that the lockout will remain in place until it hears further arguments pertaining to its legality June 3 ... though it could be several more weeks before a subsequent ruling is issued. Barring resumption of talks between the league and players toward a new collective bargaining agreement, the window is growing perilously small to:

Determine a negotiated or litigated framework for the 2011 season

Open a free agent market which could swell if players are awarded broader eligibility

Negotiate rookie contracts

Allow enough time for training camps and preseason games in advance of Week 1 of the regular season, currently scheduled to span Sept. 8-12 while encompassing the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001

"We have to be playing football on 9/11 — and I have no doubt at all it will happen," says NFL Network analyst Jamie Dukes.

"It means too much. This is the people's game, and they have a loud voice in this deal, not to mention Congress."

Teams playing in the Hall of Fame Game typically report to camp roughly two weeks beforehand, around July 24 this year.

But Rams general manager Billy Devaney isn't looking that far ahead nor is he ready to pinpoint a date where his team must be constructed and convened in enough time to take on the Bears.

"I think we'll be like most teams — ready to go," says Devaney, who remains optimistic that the lockout won't impede the preseason. "We're not thinking along those lines.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed."

Even if the impasse drags deep into August, it's still conceivable the league could play a full season if Week 1 kicks off no later than Oct. 2. That would entail moving Super Bowl XLVI from Feb. 5 to Feb. 12 — the NFL long ago asked host city Indianapolis to keep the alternate date open, a standard contingency plan for Super Bowl sites — eliminating the bye week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl and dropping every team's bye week (the season would shrink from 17 weeks to 16), a viable option given the way the 2011 regular-season schedule was constructed."