Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
By this point in the NFL season, many of us have become aware of Taylor Swift’s presence at Kansas City Chiefs games. She’s there to support her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce. Die hard football fans aren’t pleased with how often Taylor Swift is shown on camera. She stated in her Person of the Year interview with Time Magazine that she doesn’t know when she’s being shown and doesn’t care if she upsets the die hard fans.
“I’m just there to support Travis,” she says. “I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads.” The singer said in her Time Magazine interview. The NFL, and Taylor, for that matter don’t control the broadcasters like CBS or NBC. It’s up to the broadcasters how much Taylor Swift is shown during a game. The angry football fans should be upset with broadcasters, not the NFL or Swift.
A spokesperson for the NFL, Alex Riethmiller, talked to CNN about the broadcasters and their individual preferences. “We wouldn’t give any direction to our broadcasters along the lines of, ‘we need more Taylor Swift or we need less Taylor Swift,’” Riethmiller told CNN. “It’s really up to the individual broadcasters in situations like this to determine what they think is best.”
On the contrary, Swifties are getting into football to see Taylor Swift on their screens. This also appears to rub football fans the wrong way. The die hard fans don’t want football to be infiltrated by Swift and her fans. The only group of people who appear to have no issues with Swift attending the games, are football fans who also happen to be Swifties. They get their favorite sport and artist in one place.
While Swift attends games, football gains some benefits. One of those benefits is a noticeable boost in ratings. People who are fans of Taylor Swift, but not of football, tune in to watch the games when they normally wouldn’t just to see her. For example, the playoff game where the Buffalo Bills played against the Kansas City Chiefs had 50 million viewers. That game was the most watched divisional playoff game in history.
This isn’t the first time broadcasters have shown famous people at football games. One photograph from a game where the Chiefs played the Jets showed Taylor Swift standing between Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. During the game she was shown a total of 17 times. On the podcast New Heights that Travis Kelce has with his brother Jason Kelce he admits that he thinks the NFL might be overdoing it. The NFL at this point is overdoing it with showing Taylor at games. When she first started attending it was unexpected and new but now it’s gotten old.
“I just think the NFL is not used to celebrities coming to the games,” he said. “Like basketball has it all figured out. They’re all courtside, they’re sitting there. They show ‘em once or twice, but then they get back to the game. NFL’s like, ‘Look at all these A-list celebrities at the game! Keep showing ‘em, show ‘em!’ Listen, you show ‘em once, let [us] know they’re there, maybe
after a touchdown, you get a little clip. But you can’t be overboard with it.” Travis Kelce stated according to the Los Angeles Times.
Taylor Swift attending football games is what you make of it. You can be mad or excited or not care at all if you want to be. What’s important to understand is Taylor Swift and the NFL don’t control how many times broadcasters show her on camera.
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