My interest in the NFL has wained well prior to the lockout.. it was all the prostering prior to the lockout that really started it. Bickering over how to split the billions did it for me.. to the point that if I hadn't had stock prior to that, I would not have even purchased that unique novelty item.
Is the gap widening just for the Packers and their fans.. I concur.. but sooner or later it is going to hit the NFL as a whole. Professional sports as a whole, but the NFL in particular. I firmly believe that much of the draw to the NFL has surrounded the ability to watch the games on over the air "free" broadcasting. Baby step by baby step that is changing.. and I firmly believe soon there will be a push to subscription based broadcasting to be ramped up to where it is the norm. Greed will dicate it. College football is already knee deep in it with the SEC, Big Ten, etc networks. Select games are still on the big three.. but many are not. I firmly believe the NFL will continue to select the prime matchups to paid networks.. more and more each week until they target Sunday day games. Greed dictates.
For me.. it is returning me to my roots of the game.. prep ball. Even there the $$$ creep is showing.. but it the best alterative I have currently.
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"