Beyond the Gridiron: Taylor Swift's Impact on Football Fandom

Another Super Bowl is upon us. Sadly, my beloved Bengals are not one of the combatants. The American Football Conference is represented by the Kansas City Chiefs, the Bengals conference championship nemesis the past couple of years. They will face the San Francisco 49ers, the National Football Conference champions, and previous Super Bowl foe of the Bengals. If you think the way this is written sounds like I’m explaining it to a child, well, perhaps that’s how some coverage for this game should be explained.

“In your life, you’ll do things
greater than dating the boy on the football team” "Fifteen" by Talyor Swift

Swift wrote this lyric in 2008 when she was only 18.

You see, there is going to be a mega-superstar in attendance that a large segment of the population of girls between the ages of 6 and 37 (and beyond) adore. They may be watching a football game for the first time just to catch a glimpse of the girlfriend of the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce. Unless you’ve been living on Mars, or you have never been on social media or the internet, you know I’m talking about Taylor Swift, arguably one of the 50 most famous people on the planet. While I am not a fan of her music, her talent is undeniable. Her appeal in the context of football has come under fire on social media of late. I ask, why?

It has been reported that her presence has generated over $330 million for the NFL thus far. TV viewership ratings are way up when the Chiefs play, undoubtably due to a new untapped market of fans itching to get a glimpse of their favorite artist. The only time this has occurred in Super Bowls past is when a halftime show performer would reel in additional audience members who would otherwise not watch the game at all.

I would not be surprised that a company that normally would never consider buying advertising time for the Super Bowl runs an ad directed at this new market segment. I see a person who high fives nearby fans in frigid cold, cleans up the suite (according to Travis Kelce’s dad), and supports her man without regard to naysayers, as a good thing for everyone connected to the NFL. It’s a win-win. We need more of those. Especially for those who may have never given a crap about football before. Personally, I couldn’t think of a better ambassador for professional football for my daughter. I hope she enjoys the game.