The NFL has no say in this. Fox is still available over the air. Plain and simple. The NFL has no way to pull out of the contract. The station is still broadcasting. The viewers still have a way to watch the games. They're called rabbit ears.
I have to disagree. Those rabbit ears (which I use and have been urging people to buy and use) don't work everywhere. That is still declining their ratings, and with cablevision, in a lot of areas. You are right about the other means, but the NFL won't still stand for it over a long period of time, and trust me, they have a lot more pull than FOX or its parent company News Corp. Even more considering that FOX is pulling themselves off these providers.
On a different topic, I have Comcast for my phone and internet. I realized for Comcast phone and internet customers, your locals are available if you plug the cable line into the back of your TV. Some of you might of had a bad Comcast Tech who forgot to scramble the basic two digit digital channels and could get FX and your RSN, unfortunately mine did the right job and I just get locals. The down side is that this method doesn't work in your Dish Network receiver, only in the TV itself.