Many wouldn’t expect to hear the words “Taylor Swift” and “Kansas City Chiefs” in the same sentence. This was until the day famous singer and song-writer Taylor Swift attended the Chiefs game in September. The enormous number of Taylor Swift fans, commonly referred to as “Swifties”, have a reputation for being crazy, and sometimes insane, for their supposed “obsession” with Taylor Swift. When the NFL started showing Taylor Swift on screen more, football fans were constantly complaining about seeing Taylor Swift pop up when trying to watch the games. Whether you like her or not, the NFL has heavily benefited off of both Taylor Swift and her fans in sales and business.
Ever since Taylor Swift went to her first Kansas City Chiefs game to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce play on September 24, 2023, viewership has exceedingly increased. For example, there has been a 53% increase amongst teenage girls and a 24% increase amongst 18-24 year olds according to the article “How has the Taylor Swift effect boosted American football?” on the website Aljazeera. The game held on October 2nd, 2023 where the Kansas City Chiefs played against the New York Jets became the most viewed Sunday night game since the last Super Bowl during February 2023. It gained 27 million in viewership due to the increased viewership of young women, mostly consisting of Taylor Swift fans.
Not only has viewership increased, but sales in Kelce merchandise have been growing as a result of Taylor Swift’s first visit to the game in September. There have been many previous attempts to increase the number of female viewers by making jersey sizes smaller and pink to fit their appeal. This, however, wasn’t as helpful as Taylor Swift simply showing up to a football game. Her appearance to the game created a 400% increase in no. 87 Chiefs jersey sales as said by Falon Fatemi in their article “The Taylor Swift Effect.” NFL jersey prices can range from $100-$150.
There is one thing people find more interesting than the Super Bowl on the day of the game: Super Bowl commercials. Costing roughly $7 million, companies advertise creative commercials during the Super Bowl. If you were watching the 2024 Super Bowl on February 11th, there is a chance you have seen the commercial created by the skincare brand Cetaphil. In the commercial, a father wanted to watch a football game with his daughter who was shown to be very uninterested. This was until he started bonding with his daughter more through her interests, which was Taylor Swift. He bought her a jersey with Taylor Swift’s lucky number 13 and wore friendship bracelets. In the end, she sat with him in the living room and finally watched the game with him. This shows how in addition to the money the NFL has earned from viewership and sales, Taylor Swift attending the football games has connected football fans and Taylor Swift fans, even uniting families.
The NFL and Chiefs have made $331.5 million due to Taylor Swift, calculated by Apex Marketing. No matter how much you hate her, it is true that Taylor Swift has created a huge impact on the NFL from her influence on fans.