Ever consider how much more productive your Sundays would be if you didn’t spend three and half hours watching the Detroit Lions trying to “learn how to win?” Or what you could have accomplished on those winter weeknights had you not scooped up some discounted tickets to The Palace of Auburn Hills to watch the Pistons?

Next year, you might have no choice but to find out.

Thanks to growing irreconcilable differences between the NFL Player’s Association and team owners, the 2011 NFL season is in severe jeopardy. Teams across the league made it clear in Week 1 of the NFL season this year that they are united and committed to holding out next season if a new collective bargaining agreement is not reached.

Meanwhile, the NBA is also in the final year of its own collective bargaining agreement, with nothing but negativity looming around the negations.

NFL team owners and league commissioner Roger Goodell want to expand the regular season to 18 games, without significantly adjusting players’ salaries. NBA Commissioner David Stern wants a 30 percent reduction in player salaries starting next season.

Remember when NBA players threw a fit about the dress code Stern put into place? This is much more of an issue.

The NFL Player’s Association not only doesn’t want to go to an 18-game regular season, but it also wants to implement guaranteed contracts for all its players.

O.J. Simpson has a better chance of getting out on parole than NFL players do of getting guaranteed contracts.

As far as the NBA goes, a 30 percent pay cut does seem steep — until paired with the fact that the league cited a loss of over $130 million last season.

The possibility of both the NFL and NBA seasons for next year being canceled has become more and more likely. In fact, it’s getting dangerously close to the point of certainty.

This is what happens when greed and arrogance come full circle.

We saw this with the NHL in the 2004-05 season. Both sides refused to compromise, canceled an entire season and then reached a deal neither side was happy with. The owners lost millions in arena leases with no product to put on the ice and the players got hit with a salary cap and a large pay cut. It’s still not clear who really won, only that the fans lost.

People in this town, like with any major sports market across the country, love their pro football — even if it hurts to do so. There’s still strong support for the NBA, too. But they both might be absent a year from now.

Then what?

Will Mike Illitch have finally signed the deal to buy the Pistons in 2012? Will Matthew Stafford’s shoulder finally be healthy two years down the road?

Who knows.

The real question, and the one that both the NFL and NBA should pay close attention to when they next sit down at the negotiating table, is will the fans still care?

I do know that people working 40-plus hours a week, or none at all, in a tough economy don’t want to hear millionaires argue with billionaires about money.