Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce may not be dating. They may never date.
That didn’t matter when the pop divinity showed up at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday as a guest of the Chiefs’ All-Pro tight end. Maybe she just wanted him to have that chance to offer a friendship bracelet. Maybe she was just out for the free sodas in the Kelce suite.
Whatever the reason, the fact that these two persons of fervent social media interest are at least friends gives Swift another world to conquer and the world a chance to watch her conquer it.
Business is good in the NFL. It could be even better if those impressionable and free-spending Swifties — with their highly coveted Millenial and 52% female demographic, according to a Morning Consult survey — begin swinging some of their disposable income toward NFL stuff. Stuff like Travis Kelce jerseys, whose sales skyrocketed 400% at Fanatics as speculation ramped up over the relationship last week.
With Taylor Swift reportedly scheduled to attend Jets-Chiefs, Vivid Seats saw a +173% increase in traffic for the Chiefs-Jets game page, per Vivid Seats data (as of last night).
Average Taylor Swift concert ticket at MetLife Stadium was $1,332. Average for Chiefs at Jets is…
— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) September 28, 2023
Consider:
- Kelce, already a famous athlete and ubiquitous pitchman, someone who’s hosted SNL, gained more than 250,000 Instagram followers after the game Swift attended. He gained about 222,000 after the 2023 Super Bowl he helped win.
- More than 3.5 million crashed Ticketmaster by attempting to register for Swift’s Era Tour presale.
- A report from the research firm QuestionPro projected the tour could generate up to $4.6 billion in consumer spending in the United States.
- North Kansas City renamed a street for her briefly.
- The mayor of Pittsburgh re-branded the whole damned town when she swung by to perform some sold-out shows.
- New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy got 1.2 million views for a pandering Tweet about a sandwich because of her fame.
- If she tells her social media followers to register to vote, they do.
Chiefs v. Bears was the most-watched NFL game this weekend with an average of 24.3 million viewers
➡️ The most-watched telecast of the week on any network
➡️ Ranked first for women aged 12-49 pic.twitter.com/fOX5YdVXTa— Sportico (@Sportico) September 26, 2023
What Can Taylor Swift Do for the NFL? She’s Already Doing It
This NFL season and maybe even its lucrative NFL betting season is therefore hers to conquer even if she isn’t trying, even if she’s in the middle of an Earth-spanning megatour. Simply wearing New Balance sneakers on Sunday spawned a wave of stories about her new fashion choice and how others could follow.
Imagine if at some point Swift off-handedly Tweeted/said/mind-projected that making a little bet on Sportsbook X was fun?
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