Lockout (sports)

When two teams play a sport, they agree on rules and how long they will play for. But sometimes, the people who run the sport and the people who play the sport can't agree on important things like how much money the players should get paid or how long they should be allowed to play for one team. When this happens, the people who run the sport may stop the players from practicing or playing games. This is called a "lockout." It's like a big time-out where the sport gets stopped until everyone can figure out a way to agree on the important things.