This NFL season provided us with many storylines, ranging from struggling teams, controversies, and even celebrity news. Out of all of the different topics that were talked about throughout the season, Taylor Swift was the biggest headline of the NFL season, and for good reason. Taylor Swift made a huge difference on the NFL as a business this year based off her presence alone.
Early on in the season, there were rumors starting to go around that Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce was dating Taylor Swift. Once this started to go around, it was immediately huge news because one of the best players in the NFL was potentially dating the biggest artists in the world. While it wasn’t official yet, the NFL and the media jumped all over it and took advantage of the story. Within the first 24-48 hours, there were numerous news stories talking about it, fans were going crazy, and it was trending everywhere on social media.
Week 3 of the NFL season is when the Taylor Swift effect really became apparent for the NFL, when Taylor Swift attended the matchup between the Chicago Bears and the Kansas City Chiefs. While people were still focused on the actual game, the main story of the game was Taylor Swift attending the game to watch Travis Kelce play. After all of the news stories about Taylor Swift attending the game and with the influence she has, the impact that she made on the league was apparent.
There was a huge spike in jersey sales, viewers, and ticket sales. According to Front Office Sports, some of the impact she made on the NFL included a 400% spike in jersey sales for Travis Kelce, a 63% increase in female viewers, and the Chiefs sold more tickets in a single day ever since the start of the season. After seeing the impact that Taylor Swift made on sales, viewers, and ratings, the NFL knew that they had to capitalize off this.
The NFL and the rest of sports media saw the impact Swift made when she was attending her first game, and it became apparent that they should keep covering her. There was a whole new demographic that just got introduced or became interested in the NFL for the sole purpose of Swift supporting Kelce, this demographic was the majority of her fans. Taylor Swift has such a huge fanbase that is extremely loyal and dedicated to her so this is a huge win for the NFL.
A week after Swift attended her first game, her impact continued to be shown as she attended the Sunday Night Football matchup between the New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs. This was the second straight week that Taylor Swift attended a Chiefs game and this time it was in New York City, one of the biggest markets in the world, and this proved to have an impact on ticket prices. According to Front Office Sports, the cheapest ticket for this game jumped up at least $60 before and after it was announced she was attending.
This was the second straight week where Taylor Swift made such a huge impact on the NFL and its ratings. As the season continued to carry on, she continued to make an impact on the NFL by continuing to bring in new viewers and this allowed these viewers to continue buying more merchandise, buying tickets, and overall becoming more interested in the sport. This amount of attention was perfect for the NFL and it allowed them to continue to reach even bigger heights.
As the season was coming to an end and as the playoffs were going on, the amount of impact Swift made on the NFL during the season really came to light. Front Office Sports reported that Taylor Swift “generated an equivalent brand value of $331.5M for the Chiefs and the NFL.” The presence of Taylor Swift was a huge win for the NFL because they were able to generate hundreds of millions solely because of her. This would only continue to build up as the Chiefs were able to clinch another Super Bowl berth, and everyone already knew that Swift would show up as she’s been doing for much of the season.
The combination of Super Bowl hype and the presence of Taylor Swift was a dream combination for the NFL and the media. During the lead-up to the Super Bowl, there were plenty of news stories regarding the Super Bowl itself, and Taylor Swift. The craze got to a point where certain sports betting sites were allowing people to bet on whether or not Travis Kelce would propose to Taylor Swift after the game.
As the Super Bowl came around, it was still apparent that Swift would have a huge impact on the tv ratings, just like she’s been doing all season. The Super Bowl was close throughout the entire game and in the end, the Kansas City Chiefs ultimately walked away with the win and their 3rd Super Bowl victory over the last 5 seasons. This year had one of the highest viewed Super Bowls and it was a huge success for the NFL.
This year, the Super Bowl saw record highs in ratings and viewers, and Taylor Swift was one of the main reasons for this. According to Front Office Sports, overall female viewership during the Super Bowl saw a 9% increase and 47.5% of viewers were females, which is the highest it’s been in its history. These numbers show that Swift made an undeniable impact on the NFL and its ratings and economics.
Overall, this season was a huge success for the NFL in multiple different areas, but they showed they made the right decision going all-in on the Taylor Swift storyline. This was one of the best seasons the NFL had ratings wise and revenue wise. Although some people may be annoyed about how much coverage Taylor Swift has had within sports media, it’s almost impossible to overlook how big of an impact she’s made on the NFL.
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