Helping the NFL

For die-hard football fans, I know the recent increase of Taylor Swift in the NFL might be too much to handle. However, Swift’s attendance at games is helping the league more than harming it. 

Swift recently started attending NFL games after rumors began swirling that she is dating the Kansas City Chiefs’ star tight end Travis Kelce. Since then, everyone from announcers to the pregame commercials has found a way to involve Swift throughout the games she has attended.

While I understand that the frequent Swiftie references used during Kelce’s football games might take away from the game, Swift could bring in more viewership for the league in the long run. 

NBC News reported on Oct. 2 that an average of almost 27 million people watched the Chiefs vs. Jets game on Oct. 1, immortalizing it as the most-watched Sunday TV show since the Super Bowl in February. 

Even more telling is that the NBC network saw multiple demographic gains in viewership compared to other weeks of “Sunday Night Football” this season. 

The biggest demographic increase included girls ages 12 to 17 at 53 percent. Additionally, the network saw increases in viewership from women ages 18 to 24 and older than 35. 

From a financial standpoint, Swift is helping out Kelce himself. According to Fanatics, a sportswear and fan merchandise company, sales of Kelce’s jersey saw almost a 400 percent increase following Swift’s attendance at the Sept. 24 Chiefs vs. Bears game. 

NFL games are reaching more people. Shouldn’t that be celebrated, even if it comes with the cost of more Taylor Swift references and shots of her cheering on the Chiefs?

Hurting the NFL

Let me start off by saying I’m not another incel who hates any given female celebrity because they are getting involved in a male-dominated sport like football. 

This is not the case.

I like Taylor Swift — I think she is one of the most talented and influential musicians over the past 20 years, and you’re just a hater if you deny not singing along to one of her numerous hit songs once in your life. 

All this being said, it has been slightly infuriating seeing how much the NFL and broadcasters of its games have highlighted Travis Kelce and Taylor Swifts’ newly-published “relationship” — instead of actually relevant information and content related to the football game we are watching. 

I get showing the star once to let people know she’s in the building, but after every commercial break? 

And if you couldn’t escape the Swift-Kelce debacle on television, then you for sure saw it on social media. The NFL posted numerous updates on its Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter, accounts highlighting the two, including changing its Instagram bio to include Swift’s Instagram handle and putting a picture of her as the header of the NFL TikTok account. 

If you don’t want to take my word for it, how about straight from one of the individuals involved, as Kelce himself said on his podcast the NFL is “overdoing it a little bit.” 

But I think, in the long run, the universe will correct itself when the two eventually split and Swift undoubtedly writes a hit song about the breakup. 

I can already picture the title of the album: “Endzone Heartaches: Taylor’s Version.”