For just about everyone out there who watches American Idol, it’s impossible to imagine a season with the most negative man possibly on the face of the earth, the man who has established a reputation as being able to smile and backhand your ego at the same time: Simon Cowell. But, now that Fox is looking at their contract negotiations, they have decided to try bringing another 3 seasons after its current contract expires, but it seems that Simon Cowell has already considered leaving.

After losing Paula Abdul due to bizarre circumstances, Cowell leaving would be another blow to the show, but probably nothing that Fox can’t handle. After all, Fox knows that people tune in to watch the talent, and not just the biting, sarcastic and downright low criticisms that Simon dishes out with no regard for anyone else. But, it does beg the question: Why the heck is he leaving in the first place? Wasn’t X-Factor his baby back in the UK, and didn’t he help make American Idol what it is?

Well, it seems that X-Factor will be exactly the problem. As Simon Cowell’s brother Tony told people in his podcast last week, Simon doesn’t plan on staying past 2010, and wants to bring X-Factor over to the United States. So, not only would American Idol lose their dramatic and insulting judge, that judge would be bringing direct competition to Fox. Of course, that’s not for another year, and he hasn’t actually signed a contract with Sony, the owners of “X-Factor” in the first place. Once those deals are done, though, it’s possible we’ll see Simon Cowell gone forever from American Idol and permanently working on involving himself in X-Factor as much as possible.

So will Fox really get the new seasons of American Idol they want after Simon leaves, or will they find themselves directly competing with the show he brings over? We’ll have to wait and see.