How Taylor Swift gave new life to the NFL

The singer's relationship with Travis Kelce, of the Kansas City Chiefs, dominates attention and has already led to historic ratings among women.

On Sunday night, early Monday morning in Portugal, the San Francisco 49ers went to Detroit to eliminate the Lions and joined the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, who hours earlier had beaten the Ravens in Baltimore. It's a rematch of the 2020 final between one of the NFL's most historic clubs (the 49ers, who have five titles, just one behind the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers) and the most dominant of the decade (the Chiefs will go to the Super Bowl for the fourth time every five years). Years).

However, all the talk on US morning shows the next day was about Taylor Swift, and whether or not the singer would make it to the Las Vegas match on February 11.

The Taylor Swift wave swept the NFL this season, after it became known that the singer was dating Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, and that she herself began appearing at some of her boyfriend's games (especially at home), sharing a cabin with a family tight end And with other players' girlfriends and wives.

The Kansas City Chiefs player already has a case for being considered the best tight end in NFL history

The American Professional Football League could not have found a better way to promote. Taylor Swift He is the fourth most followed person on social media in the world (after Cristiano Ronaldo, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber) and has an extremely passionate fan following, almost bordering on fanaticism. The surprising connection to the NFL — helped by the way Travis Kelce spoke about the relationship New Heights Podcastwhich he shares with his brother Jason, also a player (for the Philadelphia Eagles, who were defeated in the Super Bowl last year… by the Chiefs) — has awakened a new audience for the sport, whose audience had been declining.

But this year, during the regular season – and Tay tayAs is known, they did not watch the first match until the third round – the male audience increased by 6 percent and the female audience by 9 percent compared to the previous season. More: Among women, the NFL had its largest audience ever since it began measuring by gender in 2000. The game is against the Buffalo Bills, in the first round of the league. Playoffsreached an average record audience of 50.4 million viewers – the Chiefs' equivalent game from the previous season, against the Jacksonville Jaguars, reached 34.3 million.

It's impossible to guarantee with certainty that the full impact on the NFL's recovery will come from Taylor Swift, but there are other measurable data points. According to Eric Smallwood, President marketing Apex, in statements to Front office sportsSwift generated $331.5 million (€306 million) in brand value for the Kansas City Chiefs, by measuring mentions of the singer on social networks, digital information, press, radio or television and calculating how much it might mean in an ad.

For this reason too, it is not surprising that one of the topics under discussion is whether Tay tay He will be at the Super Bowl on the 11th – he has another small concert in Tokyo (Japan) the night before, but the time difference works in his favor, even though the flight takes 13 hours… However, for safety reasons, the field is usually closed The air force in the city that hosts the largest sporting event in the United States hours before…

Clothes that drive you crazy

to com. swiftiesTaylor Swift's most loyal fan, everything the idol does Pop Is it to be viewed and, if possible, copied. So it was no surprise that Kristin Juszczyk, the wife of a San Francisco 49ers player who makes custom NFL apparel for celebrities, gained more than half a million followers on social media after Taylor wore a jersey of her design during a game. The Kansas City store where the singer ordered the clothes classic Of the presidents, their sales increased a hundredfold the next day Seal of approval By Tay Tay. Sales of Travis Kelce jerseys, No. 87, have increased by 400 percent this season.

Reverse medal

If the Chiefs and their fans welcome Taylor Swift and all the attention with open arms, some of the more pure fans of other teams criticize the circus setup, which diverts attention from football. Facing criticism that she was distorting or sabotaging the NFL, the singer said, on Sunday evening, while walking through the corridors of the stadium in Baltimore, without slowing down: “I did not do anything!”