Travis Kelce had left State Farm Stadium as a Super Bowl winner back in February of 2023. Following the retirement of the game’s greatest player, Tom Brady, stakes were high for the newest season of the National Football League (NFL). But just when the sport seemed to have hit its theatrical ceiling, Kelce, one of the league’s best players, began to date Taylor Swift.
Swift, one of America’s most renowned singer-songwriters, is at the peak of her career following a show-stopping Eras Tour spanning the United States with an array of sold-out dates projected to bring in over 600 million dollars in revenue. But now, Swift had somehow managed to become the NFL’s most valuable spectator, bringing an entirely new audience to America’s game, all by simply cheering on Kelce from the sidelines.
After the two powerhouses of their respective industries met in late September, speculation of their newly formed romance has ravaged both the football and music scene alike. Bright and early in the morning of the first of October, Kelce is seen leaving Swift’s apartment, seemingly exchanging pleasantries with the idol, and later that evening, Swift, joined by an entourage of fellow celebrities such as the likes of Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman, is spotted at the MetLife stadium cheering on her latest romantic interest.
However, Swift was not just joined by her gaggle of modern-day stars, as once fans caught wind of her possible attendance at the game, they scrambled to take witness. Sunday night’s match on October 1 between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets raked in 27 million viewers, causing it to be the highest-viewed Sunday TV show since the Super Bowl of the prior year, which peaked at 29.4 million concurrent viewers. Swift’s appearance at the game brought a cascade of fans, mostly teenage girls, causing a 53% increase in such attendees.
With the jaw-dropping numbers and newly incited interest in Swift’s ‘football era,’ the NFL obviously had to take notice. Coupled with the already buzzing media, even Kelce himself admitted that the NFL may be leaning too far into all the attention. Kelce acknowledged on his podcast, New Heights, that from the constant cuts to Swift during the match to the changing of the official NFL Instagram bio to “chiefs are 2-0 as swifties,” the league may be overdoing it. On October 4, the official NFL released a statement, “The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce news has been a pop cultural moment we’ve leaned into in real-time, as it’s an intersection of sport and entertainment, and we’ve seen an incredible amount of positivity around the sport.”
From here, it is without a doubt certain that so long as Swift continues to attend, the NFL will continue to bring in higher and higher numbers, capitalizing on the celebrity and her loyal fans.
