The Kansas City Chiefs are set to play against the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 11, and many NFL fans are growing irritated with the amount of coverage that Taylor Swift is receiving.
Throughout history, many celebrity relationships have existed within the league such as Ciara and Russell Wilson or Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo. Earlier in the season, it was announced that pro-bowl tight
end, Travis Kelce had begun dating Pop-Icon Taylor Swift. This one is receiving media attention like no other.
As a huge football fan, it gets irritating to constantly have broadcasting stations show what is happening with Kelce and Swift. A prime example of this was when the New York Giants were hosting the Seattle Seahawks and fans went into a frenzy of boos as Taylor Swift Eras Tour was advertised. Many fans were to this point getting tired of the amount of coverage that she was receiving. I somewhat understand this from a fan perspective, but Taylor Swift isn’t being shown as much as people think. Colin Cowherd on The Herd, stated that “Taylor Swift… on average has been shown 25 seconds… Out of the entire game.” I do feel as if fans are being dramatic and being as irritated as they are. I guarantee you right now if you were to scroll down any sports outlet media page and find a post that is made about Taylor Swift, you would see nothing but people complaining about the number of times that she was shown when in reality, she was only shown 25 seconds out of an entire game! I think this is a good thing for the NFL and will provide more fans for the NFL.
Now that they are lined up to be on the center stage in Las Vegas for Super Bowl 58, they will receive the most coverage imaginable. Many students around UNLV had both good and bad thoughts about this whole situation.
“Though at times the coverage is a little annoying, I see that the NFL is a business, and this coverage of Taylor and Travis can bring a new market of fans to the NFL,” journalism major, Noah Bonsignore said.
Taylor Swift brings an entirely different fan base that the NFL has not seen before. This does bring more revenue and viewership, especially in the Super Bowl. A UNLV student, Bryce Eckles, gave excellent insight into the money aspect. “Swift is possibly the world’s biggest superstar and the $331.5 million she’s raked in for the NFL this year proves it. At the end of the day, it’s hard to criticize the NFL, but the Super Bowl is about the game being played on the field and the spectacle that is the big game. I hope the NFL finds a good balance between highlighting the special talents and stories on the field with the ones off.”
Although fans are becoming somewhat irritated about the amount of coverage that the relationship is receiving it will make the NFL better in certain aspects. It will allow the NFL to grow overall and expand the fan base.
Based on an article written by Juliana Kaplan of the Business Insider, an intelligence company found that 53% of adults identify as Swift fans, making this one of the best things non-football related that could help in the growth of the NFL.
The highest-viewed SuperBowl of all time was in 2016 when the New England Patriots took on the Atlanta Falcons, raking in approximately 126.3 million viewers across all platforms. This year’s Superbowl is expected to reach nearly this amount at 120 million. You can’t deny that this relationship is going to bring in more and more fans for the NFL.
