Hey NFL, how about a little respect for the people buying tickets to your games?

I have been an NFL fan my whole life and a Packer season ticket holder for nearly 30 years.

I have gladly sat through games so hot my left arm stuck to my sister’s right as we held our own in Section 117, and so cold only our eyes peaked out of our double-scarfed up faces.

I watched through frozen eye lashes as quarterback Brett Favre threw his final pass for the green and gold. Then, a few years later, I stood for hours in an icy rain as my hero Bart Starr rode a golf cart onto the field during a halftime ceremony to retire Favre’s number.

As an NFL fan, I show up in that stadium every home game and I pay for that honor by spending a sizable chunk of cash each spring. My loyalty to the league may have been tested a time or two, but it remains true.

I wonder, every now and then, how loyal the NFL is to me and my fellow season ticket holders.

This season, the NFL announced its schedule without assigning a time or date to the final regular season game. They left those of us who have to finagle logistics to get to the stadium hanging until the absolute last second of its self-imposed six-day window.

We only live 30 minutes from the stadium, but what about fans who fly in? Or have to hire babysitters? Or ask off work? Or invite guests?

We all bought tickets to a game we had to wait nine months to find out when it would be played. Why? So the NFL could manipulate the weekend ratings for monetary its own gain.

It’s insulting to those of us who pay exactly the same amount for every game, regardless of its impact on the standings or interest to streaming networks.

We don’t get to choose our games. The invoices for our season tickets are due well before the schedule even comes out. But, especially here in Wisconsin, we do that gladly for the opportunity to cheer on our beloved Packers.

Lambeau Field has been sold out since 1960 and we Packer fans fill that stadium every week.

We have a lot of respect for the franchise, the athletes who play the game and the league that supports them.

It would be nice if that league showed a little respect to us as well.

Go Pack Go.