Is Taylor Swift ruining your NFL experience? The short answer is no, not at all. Swift is actually doing a lot for everything surrounding football, and here’s why.
The first game she attended was on Sept. 24, when the Kansas City Chiefs played the Chicago Bears. According to an article in Variety, Swift’s appearance raised the audience of the game to 24.3 million viewers and was the most-watched telecast of the week.
Swift started appearing at games after rumors started of her dating the tight end of the Chiefs, Travis Kelce.
To give some context, apparently Kelce attended Swift’s tour this summer at Arrowhead Stadium and made a friendship bracelet with his number on it to give to her. While he wasn’t able to get it to her, it still got her attention and it continued from there.
Since then, they’ve been spotted together on multiple occasions out in public. But back to the point, Swift has brought a lot of attention to the NFL and football in general.
According to statistics by the New England Sports Network, anything involving Kelce has skyrocketed.
As reported on Sept. 29, Travis Kelce jerseys saw a 400% increase in sales after Swift’s appearance at the game.
Kelce’s social media also gained 400,000 followers, which is even more than when his team won the Super Bowl this past year.
To further the point, the female audience of 18 to 49-year-olds saw a 63% increase in viewership.
Since that first game, Swift has attended a few more Chiefs games and continued to raise viewership and sales.
But here are other reasons that flat-out prove Swift is not ruining the NFL experience but rather helping it.
As stated above, more women are starting to participate in the NFL. They’re buying NFL merchandise, watching games and even attending games in person.
Attention is being brought even more to the NFL, which is a positive. Widening the audience and getting more exposure to the sport will help it continue to thrive.
It’s also opening people to new experiences they never would have looked into before seeing their favorite celebrity there.
Girls all across TikTok have been stating that they never would have thought they enjoyed football until they had the games so they could see Swift.
Kelce himself has embraced the new viewership, as he addressed it on the podcast he shares with his brother, Jason Kelce, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.
The two brothers have a segment in their podcast, New Heights, titled “not-so-dumb questions.” On one episode, they said it was the “Swiftie edition” in reference to Swift’s fans tuning in.
Lastly, in reference to Swift being shown during the games, any celebrity who attends a sporting event gets shoutouts during the broadcast.
While Swift may be shown slightly more, the broadcast networks are most likely intentionally catering to the women in their audience to signal they know they’re watching, and they appreciate it.
So no, Swift isn’t ruining your football experience. Rather she’s actually enhancing it and creating a whole new audience for the sport.
