Taylor Swift is good for the
National Football League

Steve Morano
MSMU Class of 2024

(3/2024) For as long as spectator sports have enamored the public, professional contests have attracted celebrity attention. Participants in the ancient Olympics became celebrities themselves whenever they did well during competitions in Greece; Roman Emperors were constantly seen and featured in gladiator matches and horse races; Henry VIII was himself a famous tennis player in Tudor England. Even in the modern day, celebrities have owned sports franchises, with a prime example being Sir Elton John’s ownership of Watford Football Club in England. These are all great examples of celebrity involvement with sport, but one celebrity’s relationship with a sport some would say has captivated the entire country in some way, shape, or form. This situation, of course, being Taylor Swift and the National Football League.

The four-time Grammy Album of the Year winner first gained the attention of the league and its fans in September of 2023 when she was rumored to have been dating the Kansas City Chiefs Tight End, Travis Kelce. At first, media speculation and rumors surrounding their relationship were the only known facts in the public arena, but when the singer showed up to the Chiefs game against the Chicago Bears on September 24, their relationship was all but confirmed. Ever since then, the couple has been seen everywhere, from Kelce attending one of her shows in Buenos Aires to Swift being on the field for the Chiefs AFC trophy presentation in Baltimore as well as the presentation of the Super Bowl trophy in Las Vegas. All these public appearances together show that they are clearly supportive of each other’s career.

But with Swift’s appearance at NFL games has come a lot of hate, particularly on social media and in the public discourse. It seems that now everyone has an opinion on the singer from Reading, Pennsylvania if they didn’t have one already. But across the spectrum of opinion, there is one big winner with Swift’s new involvement in the most popular sport in the United States: the NFL itself. Swift has added a new element for fans of the league to talk about and to get involved in. From the economics of the league to its societal perception in America, it is impossible to think that she has not had an impact on football’s place in pop culture.

At its shallowest level, the only way that non-Taylor Swift, football fans have seen or interacted with her scope on the sport is seeing her on broadcasts of Chiefs games. The argument that "Taylor Swift is shown too much during football games" originates from this interaction. But it should be noted that her screen time is a lot shorter than what her reputation is thought to be. According to the New York Times, across the Chiefs’ five games from December 25th to January 28th, Swift was shown across all broadcasts a combined 20 times with a screentime of three minutes. Three minutes across an hour-long production would usually be chalked up to B-roll footage, but three minutes across a month’s worth of NFL games would not even make up for the amount of time a commercial would be re-run during a single game.

Many of the opinions of sports fans are often shaped by those of pundits and commentators on channels such as CBS, ESPN, and Fox Sports. Most of these sporting influencers have cited the hatred of Swift’s NFL presence as bad. Colin Cowherd, an NFL pundit said that people obsessed with her relationship with Kelce and therefore, the NFL are "weird, lonely men". Stephen A. Smith, a pundit for ESPN, spoke on her lack of trying to garner attention, "To show up at a football game and the cameras are on her, that ain’t her fault!" And it isn’t, if anything, if people want to be mad over her coverage, then they should be pointing the fingers at the networks instead of Swift, who does not have any input into her screentime.

The negative coverage, specifically on social media has, has garnered wild conspiracies from fringe political movements talking about her possible influence then upcoming 2024 Presidential election. These claims, however, are unfounded, specifically around her political affiliation as neither her, Kelce, or anybody from her publicist group have commented on the election. But that has not slowed the conspiracy theories about an already hot and contentious American election.

Regardless of if a person thinks that Swift is good or bad for the league, it is an undeniable fact that she has made a big influence on the economics of the league itself. Besides her features in game, she has boosted the reputation of her boyfriend’s career. Kelce was already a famous football player before dating Swift; the three-time Super Bowl champion has been named the All-Pro team four times and was selected to nine straight Pro-Bowls from 2015-2023. But the area of acclaim that Swift added to Kelce’s career in was his pop-culture status. Public appearance with one another plus her renowned in the music industry have led to a near 400% sales spike in his jersey, making it the most sold Nike NFL product of this season. Outside of her boyfriend, she has been good for the leagues network ratings, as the NFL saw a 7% viewership increase since her first appearance in September.

Outside of the cultural phenomenon that is the National Football League, with its influence over, economics, media, and perception, people should remember that no matter what, Swift is just another person’s significant other supporting what her partner loves to do. It is no different than any other player’s wife or girlfriend showing up to a game on Sunday afternoon. It should also be noted again that she is not in control of her screentime as the networks are just trying to find clickbait B-roll for the time in-between plays.

The 2023 NFL season ended in a good way for Swift’s boyfriend’s team, as the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in overtime by a score of 25-22 in what already seemed to be a media frenzied event in Las Vegas. The team themselves might be another reason why some people dislike Swift as she is, unfortunately, guilty by association to a team that will attempt to win their third Lombardi trophy in a row next season, something that no other franchise has ever done before. The end of the game produced images of Swift and Kelce together and as they embraced. These then circulated across all forms of media and most likely, social consciousness. They are a sign, whether you like it or not, that Taylor Swift is here to stay in the NFL for the duration of Travis Kelce’s career.