Amongst an already exciting, and unpredictable NFL season, the hottest storyline that’s emerged from the largest sport in the United States is the relationship between music icon Taylor Swift; and the Kansas City Chiefs star Tight End, Travis Kelce. This relationship has introduced an entirely new, and untapped population of American consumers to football, as 53% of American adults claim to be fans of Taylor Swift , and 43% of those fans identify as “Swifties” (Taylor Swift’s closest and craziest followers). This massive following is now making its way into the football economy by increasing jersey and ticket sales, skyrocketing viewership, and changing the demographics of the football community, all in drastic, and unprecedented ways.

There’s no doubt that the T-Swift effect has made its way to the NFL. Since her first appearance in week 3, NFL Sunday Night Football ratings jumped 53% among teenage girls, 24% among women aged 18-24, and 34% for women over the age of 35 (Canal, 2023). Her week 4 appearance at the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets boasted an average of 27 million viewers, making it the most viewed Sunday TV program since Super Bowl LVII, and smashing the NFL’s 17.5 million viewers average.

Swift’s most recent appearance at the Chiefs victory over the Denver Broncos averaged 13.83 million views. Though this seems meek in comparison to her other showings, 13.83 million viewers is a 57% increase, with last year’s Thursday Night Football games  averaging only 8.79 million viewers.

How do we know if these trends are due to Taylor Swift or not? Well, we don’t know for sure, but the numbers don’t lie when you compare the Sunday Night Football games where Swift was in attendance (25.65 million) against the league average Sunday Night Football game (23.8 million ), there is roughly a 7% difference (NBC, 2023). 

The T-Swift Economy

Travis Kelce is benefiting from the Swift economy as well; since the Swift-Kelce relationship became public, Travis Kelce’s jersey sales have jumped 400% , which puts him in the top 5 highest sellers among all players in the NFL (Associated Press, 2023). In addition, Travis Kelce has gained nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram, and his talk show “New Heights”  has reached #1 on Apple Podcasts (Adgate, 2023). Now, could this massive growth of following come as a result of stellar play? The short answer is no, as his current 345 yards and 3 touchdowns through 6 weeks are 109 yards and 4 touchdowns behind pace from the 6 week mark last season. Could this increase in viewership be due to the stellar on-field performance of the Chiefs, who have won two of the last four Super Bowls, including the most recent Super Bowl LVII? One could argue no again, as the Chiefs up to this point in the season have, despite what their record may show, underperformed to the standard they’ve set for themselves the past 4 years. This poor play has been accompanied by a major spike in viewership, ticket pricing, and stadium attendance, leading us to believe that this is just another example of the Taylor Swift effect in action.

It’s not just Kelce who has benefited from the Swifties’ peaked interest in the NFL. Ticket prices in games where Taylor Swift is in attendance have spiked. After word got out that Taylor Swift was going to be at MetLife Stadium watching the Chiefs play the Jets, prices for cheap seats rose 10% to $152, and the average ticket price got as high as $380, a 35% increase from the initial listings (Bowmand and Limbong, 2023). So in this sense, her presence is affecting the league economy, in a big way.

Bad Blood, or Love Story?

The NFL has been captivated, whether you like it or not, by the new romance between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Some die-hard NFL fans are concerned or frustrated that there seems to be a shift in the focus of the game when she is in attendance, from the actual action of the game, to seeing what Swift and her celebrity friends are up to in their luxury suite. No matter how you feel, the only way to not follow the story between these two is to stop following football, which may not be enough to distance yourself from the drama. It leaves us to wonder, who the next superstar couple to take over the sports industry will be, and whether they can match the excitement, or create the same buzz that the Swift-Kelce fandom has brought to the Football world.

We’ve all witnessed many athlete-celebrity relationships before–J. Lo and Alex Rodruigez, Gisele and Tom Brady, The Kardashians, and… 18 different athletes across all 3 major U.S sports–but many relationships of this nature, including all those mentioned, have ended in scandalous, and often abrupt breakups. As we all know, Taylor Swift is known for her best work in the wake of a breakup, so is this newfound connection going to last, or will it result in another top-10 hit for the whole world to enjoy?

References

Adgate, Brad. “The NFL (and Travis Kelce) Is Benefitting from the Taylor Swift Effect.” Forbes, October 2, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2023/10/02/the-nfl-and-travis-kelce-is-benefitting-from-the-taylor-swift-effect/?sh=149ea4895f31.

Bowman, Emma, and Andrew Limbong. “Taylor Swift’s Stadium Stop Hikes up Ticket Prices for Chiefs-Jets Game.” NPR, October 1, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/01/1202923486/taylor-swifts-kelce-kansas-city-chiefs#:~:text=After%20the%20news%20surfaced%20that,35%25%20to%20%24380%20on%20Friday.

Canal, Alexandra. “Taylor Swift Helped Boost NFL Ratings, but Her Power Extends Far beyond the League.” Yahoo! Finance, October 4, 2023. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/taylor-swift-helped-boost-nfl-ratings-but-her-power-extends-far-beyond-the-league-180303062.html#:~:text=Sunday%20night%27s%20matchup%20between%20the,Bowl%2C%20according%20to%20NBC%20Sports.

“Cowboys-49ers on NBC and Peacock Is Most-Watched Week 5 Sunday Night Football Game Ever, Averaging 26.1 Million Viewers.” NBC Sports Pressbox, October 9, 2023. https://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2023/10/09/cowboys-49ers-on-nbc-and-peacock-is-most-watched-week-5-sunday-night-football-game-ever-averaging-26-1-million-viewers/#:~:text=For%20the%20season%2C%20NBC%27s%20Sunday,last%20season%20at%20this%20point.

Press, Associated. “Chiefs TE Travis Kelce Jersey Sales Jump Nearly 400% Following Taylor Swift Appearance at Arrowhead.” NFL.com, September 26, 2023. https://www.nfl.com/news/chiefs-te-travis-kelce-jersey-sales-jump-nearly-400-following-taylor-swift-appea.