The NFL is doing everything it can to win over Taylor Swift.
The pop superstar has been one of the biggest stories of this NFL season since being romantically linked to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
The Swiftie invasion has annoyed some longtime NFL fans, but there’s no doubt the NFL is loving it.
After Taylor appeared at Arrowhead Stadium to watch the Chiefs (and her new boyfriend) take on the Chicago Bears two weeks ago, sales of Kelce’s jersey increased over 1200%, surpassing those of star Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Kelce also gained hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
And this past weekend’s Sunday Night Football game between the Chiefs and the Jets drew the highest ratings for an NFL game since the Super Bowl earlier this year, with an average of 27 million viewers.
Before the game even started, NBC was embracing the hype surrounding Swift’s appearance at MetLife Stadium using her song “Welcome to New York.”
And prior to kickoff, NBC presented a Taylor Swift-themed explainer for the game featuring The Voice host Carson Daly.
From there, things didn’t get any better for NFL fans who were already experiencing Swift fatigue after only two weeks.
According to Front Office Sports, Taylor was shown 17 times during the broadcast of the closer-than-expected game – not counting the commercials for Swift’s Eras Tour movie coming to theaters on October 13.
And it turns out, the NFL reportedly asked the networks to embrace Swift and run trailers for her upcoming Eras Tour movie during the game – for free.
According to the New York Post, the league requested that its broadcast partners, including NBC, ESPN, FOX and CBS, how the promos for the movie for free during their games this weekend.
While CBS and FOX declined, ESPN ran the ad during their pregame content on both Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday NFL Countdown.
NBC, meanwhile, which aired the Chiefs game on Sunday night, ran the Eras Tour promo for free prior to Sunday Night Football during their Football Night in America pregame show.
The ad ran again during the game, but this time was reportedly paid for, with commercial space during Sunday Night Football reaching nearly a million dollars for a 30-second spot.
TV executives speculated that the NFL is reportedly attempting to win over Taylor Swift in an attempt to get her for a Super Bowl halftime show, which she reportedly declined this year.
It wasn’t the only outreach that the league made to Swift and her fans: After the game, the league changed their header photo on X (formerly known as Twitter) to feature shots of Swift watching the contest, while changing their bio on the Instagram-owned Threads to highlight the Chiefs’ 2-0 record with Taylor in attendance.
The Swift overload from the NFL has lead many to speculate that the relationship is just a giant marketing stunt for the NFL, a manufactured storyline to help boost the league’s numbers in the coveted 18-34 demographic, and especially among women.
Either way, if the reaction from New York Giants fans in the stadium when an ad for Taylor’s movie popped up is any indication, it seems like football fans are over it at this point.
