So, its five weeks into the football season and we’ve already had a lot going on and great season so far. However, the biggest story of the NFL’s year so far seems to be Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dating. This new couple has taken the media by storm and you either hate it or you love it. All this madness started after Taylor Swift showed up to support Travis Kelce and the Chiefs vs. the Bears game in Week 3 with Travis’s Mom, Donna Kelce. Although they were rumored to have been dating before, especially with the stories of Travis Kelce getting rejected at a concert when trying to give her a friendship bracelet, during the game, the NFL took advantage with the camera panning up to Taylor’s reaction any chance they got and multiple NFL Instagram and Twitter posts were put up about any minor detail.
After the game, they were eventually spotted leaving Arrowhead Stadium together inside the stadium and in the car. The NFL loves this couple as it brings it even more revenue as well as fans and media topics for them to post about. According to an article from Morningstar, they think that Taylor Swift’s newfound interest in the NFL generates a whopping $122 million of brand value, which is left to speculation, but is definitely reasonable and goes to show how big of a deal it is for the NFL financially.
With both of these worlds colliding, it’s become a new TikTok trend for people to ask their NFL-obsessed partners on what they think of “making Travis Kelce famous”, putting him on the map or simply saying that nobody knew who he was before Taylor Swift. I mean, if you’re a NFL fan who keeps up with the league, you definitely know who Travis Kelce is. He is an 8x Pro Bowler, 4x All-Pro and 2x SB Champ, and has basically done anything you could to build a HOF NFL career. Despite this, it is actually bizarre to me how famous Taylor Swift truly is even compared to him, although I think both mutually benefit off of the relationship, the media coverage of any little detail they can pick from them has been crazy.
Even Travis Kelce himself said the NFL is ‘overdoing’ the Taylor Swift coverage on his podcast with brother Jason Kelce called ‘New Heights’ (great podcast, by the way), and I agree. Although it’s great to bring in more fans and capitalize on it, it has definitely been overwhelming, even just for the fans. She attended the Chiefs vs. Jets game on October 1st, and the TV of course captured her in with many other celebrities enjoying the game, but she was there with Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Hugh Jackman, even they were barely mentioned alongside her. After the game, the NFL changed their bio to “The Chiefs are 2-0 as Swifties” on Instagram and “We had the best time with you today” & “NFL (Taylor’s Version)” on Twitter with a background of her at the game. With how big both the NFL and Taylor Swift are, it started a lot of controversy from NFL fans about how crazy the coverage really is.
Honestly though, this is zero surprise with how big Taylor Swift has become with her sold out huge tour, and some people are even comparing her fame to Michael Jackson, which is a discussion for another day. However, if you combine this with one of the most popular teams today (The Chiefs), and their offensive superstar, the world is bound to blow up. Travis’s brother, Jason Kelce, was not surprised at all about how the world reacted, but, going back to their podcast, they discussed how they think showing the celebrities so much after plays during the game is overboard. Honestly, just showing them once or twice before or the game and maybe a reaction after a big play is pretty cool but I think the overall focus should be on the players and the game. Even though I think it adds to the atmosphere, lets not overdo it. I would like to point out, though, that part of Jason’s focus on Taylor Swift attending the game was for her to be safe and enjoying herself, with how big of a celebrity she is, attending a NFL game does have some risk.
Another discussion that sparked after these couple revealing themselves was what the breakup song would be like, even though they just started dating. I mean, I get it, Taylor Swift is renowned for writing breakup songs based on her real relationships but I saw AI-generated songs and that’s just crazy.
When Taylor Swift didn’t attend the Chiefs-Vikings game this past Sunday, many fans were definitely disappointed, especially the ones who showed up the game wearing ‘Swiftie’ jerseys, and the announcers were surprised to say she wasn’t there. Commentator Jim Nantz said, “Seven words I thought would never leave my lips in my career. Taylor Swift is not at the game.” Travis Kelce even suffered an ankle injury early in the game, and although he returned, I guess his remarks of her being his good luck charm may be true.
My overall opinion on the whole thing is that us NFL fans should appreciate the new fan base and interest this couple has produced, and we can have some fun takeaways by perceiving the way the NFL manages the whole thing. If you’ve never heard of Travis Kelce or the Chiefs before this, that’s perfectly okay and, who knows, maybe you can catch a football game and gain an interest in it. I think the NFL will definitely be able to make a lot of money off of it, and the Chiefs may even benefit off of it (on and off the field). I mean, does Taylor Swift make Travis Kelce and the Chiefs automatic Super Bowl champions? I guess we’ll see what happens.
