NFL conspiracy theory Twitter is having a field day right now.
Of course there’s the Super Bowl logo conspiracy, with fans pointing out that the recent years’ Super Bowl logos have “predicted” who matches up against one another in the big game.
If that theory were to hold up, this year’s matchup would feature the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens.
But another conspiracy theory actually has the Chiefs in the big game.
Now, why would the NFL want to rig the league to put the Chiefs in the Super Bowl? I think that’s pretty obvious.
The Chiefs have been ratings juggernauts this season, thanks in part to the Taylor Swift effect. Since the pop star began dating tight end Travis Kelce and attending Chiefs games in person, viewership for Chiefs games has been through the roof.
Of course the Super Bowl is the most-watched sporting event in the United States every year by a pretty wide margin, so it’s not like the NFL is exactly hurting for ratings. But think of how much higher those ratings will be if the Chiefs take down the Baltimore Ravens and bring the Taylor Swift effect to the sport’s biggest game.
I mean, it makes sense that the NFL would be rooting for the Chiefs…
And after announcing the referees for this weekend’s AFC Championship against the Ravens, NFL fans are suspicious…
The referee for the game at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens is Shawn Smith, a veteran ref who’s been with the NFL since 2015 and has been a referee since 2018.
He also happens to be the referee with the highest winning percentage for road teams – which in this game, is the Kansas City Chiefs.
Home teams win 56% of their games under other NFL referees. But under Smith, that rate drops to 40%, the lowest percentage of wins for home teams of any referee in the NFL.
Naturally, this has Ravens fans concerned, and conspiracy theorists throwing the flag on the NFL for trying to guarantee a Kansas City Chiefs/Taylor Swift appearance at the Super Bowl.
Of course, is there a possibility that these stats don’t really mean a bias against home teams but rather, Smith reffing games where the home team is often the underdog?
Well, yeah, that’s exactly what it means, as this Twitter user broke down…
So it turns out Shawn Smith really doesn’t seem to favor one team versus the other.
But that wouldn’t be a good narrative, would it?
And either way the game turns out this weekend, whether the Chiefs or the Ravens win, one of these conspiracy theories would come true: Either the Chiefs win and prove the theory about the ref, or the Ravens win and prove the logo color conspiracy.
So at least it will give people something to talk about leading up to the Super Bowl.
