Another day, another industry boost under Taylor Swift’s name.
Swift has been hailed as “the music industry” since 2014, with the release of her massive pop album “1989”, and ever since then, the list has just kept growing. With her forays into directing and other artistic mediums, she’s diving headfirst into the entertainment industry as a whole. Over the summer, her smash hit “Eras Tour” has been credited with boosting the US economy, hotels, restaurants, and more everywhere it goes.
One would think no one is in more need of a day off than Swift. A day to chill out, relax, catch up with friends, the typical day off activities. But even on her day off, Swift still managed to give one of the most prolific teams in the NFL a massive boost.
On September 24, Taylor Swift made an appearance at the Kansas City Chiefs’ home game at Arrowhead Stadium against the Chicago Bears. The result? According to USA Today, 24 million viewers, making it the most watched NFL game that week. It also was the highest-rated NFL game of the week for women in three different age demographics. Following her next appearance at MetLife Stadium at the Oct. 1 game against the Jets, ratings reached nearly 27 million, which made it the most watched Sunday program since the Super Bowl earlier this year.
All she did was attend.
Besides ratings and jersey sales boosts, the social media impact Swift’s attendance had was immeasurable. The official NFL accounts temporarily updated their bios and headers to commemorate Swift’s visit, sports outlets such as ESPN, Fox, and more made countless posts, and NFL fans and Swifties alike shared their thoughts on not just the rumored pairing between Kelce and Swift, but the impact Swift’s attendance had.
Many NFL fans reacted unfavorably to all the social media coverage and shots of Swift at the games, claiming the NFL had “rigged” the game for the Chiefs to win because she was there, blaming Swift for media coverage of her presence overshadowing the players and the games, and making varied misogynistic comments about Swift’s personal life. In the past two weeks, she’s been called a slut, whore, and most incredulous of all, a gold digger. It’s worth mentioning Swift’s cat, Olivia Benson, has a higher net worth ($97 million) than Kelce ($30 million), never mind Swift herself ($740 million).
All of this frenzied media attention has come without an official statement or post from Swift. She’s never publicly discussed the extent of her sports fandom besides the fact that she’s a Philadelphia Eagles fan, which she only disclosed in her Philadelphia tour stop this summer, at her self-described hometown show (and that she’s a USWNT fan!). Swift has still yet to publicly comment on the relationship, which she rarely does, anyways.
The key takeaway though is that there really is an entire demographic the NFL could not figure out how to tap into that got magically solved for them overnight. There’s an entire audience of young women out there who will tune into sports. This is the NFL’s opportunity to keep them hooked and keep them coming back. They can’t rely on Taylor Swift, as much of a champion of women’s rights and gender equality she is, because at the end of the day, she has no affiliation with the NFL. It’s up to the league to decide how they want to keep appealing to this audience and grow their viewership and impact.
Which leads us to another point: men have to accept that sports are for everyone, no questions asked. If you’re getting upset about two to three pans to Swift during a three and a half hour game, turn off your TV, go outside, and take a breather.
Deion Sanders has received heaps of praise for bringing a slew of celebs to Colorado Buffaloes games, including but not limited to Lil Wayne, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Offset. Sure, Coach Prime is facing some criticism for bringing “Hollywood” to college football, but it’s nowhere near the violently misogynistic threats Swift is receiving for supporting her partner. Just a few days ago, Barstool Sports personality Dan “Big Cat” Katz talked about “needing” a sex tape of Swift to verify her relationship with Kelce. No one would dare say that about Deion Sanders. I wonder why.
Think about the positives, though. If these women keep coming back to the NFL for more, the numbers are only going to keep growing. Football has always been a traditionally male-dominated sport, but as women take on more front office and sideline roles, the landscape is changing. And it should be!
If one young woman is watching the game hoping to see a glimpse of Swift, but finds she really enjoys the atmosphere, the storytelling, and the passion behind sports and pursues it as a career path, it’ll all be worth it. This is why we follow sports: to come together as a community, to rally behind something to believe in. It’s a lucrative industry to join with so much history behind it. Why should it only be for one demographic?
Instead of making dull and tired misogynistic comments, male fans of the NFL should say “thank you” to Taylor Swift. The only way the game is going to grow is by bringing in outside voices, women included. If this is how they get into it, so be it. Who cares? I certainly don’t.
Let the games begin.
