Crime rate will rise without NFL season, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis says

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It's more than not having a reason to look forward to Mondays.

If the NFL and NFLPA can't come to an agreement in their labor dispute, one Baltimore Ravens' veteran believes society as a whole will pay – because there will be more violent crime.

"Do this research if we don't have a season -- watch how much evil, which we call crime, watch how much crime picks up, if you take away our game," Ray Lewis told ESPN.

Lewis, the face of the Ravens franchise who is considered a spiritual leader in the league, has dealt with his own fair share of crime.

Now deeply involved in the Charm City community, Lewis was once convicted of obstruction of justice in a 2000 murder trial in Atlanta.red bottom heels

If the NFL is on hiatus, he said, fans won't have anything else to do but get into trouble.

"There's too many people that live through us, people live through us," he said. "Yeah, walk in the streets, the way I walk the streets, and I'm not talking about the people you see all the time."

With the lockout now in its 68th day, there doesn't seem to be much movement on either side. A decision last week by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave team owners a slight boost, keeping the lockout in place at least temporarily.

The next hearing is scheduled for June 3.

The last NFL strike was in 1987 and lasted for 24 days. It is not clear if crime increased during that time.