NFL Publicity

The NFL gained publicity and attention during the lockout, according to Eric Wright, vice president for research and development at Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Joyce Julius, which measures the value of media exposure and sponsorships.

The number of references to the NFL appearing in news publications doubled in May and June to 37,000 from 18,300 a year ago, Wright said. The league would have needed to spend $40 million to buy all the print, television and internet exposure it received in those two months, Wright said.

"That's absolutely huge," he said. "So yeah, the coverage probably skewed toward the negative. But our point is that there was a whole bunch of it."