Gaining Yards

At this point you don’t have to be a football fan or a Taylor Swift fan to know that Swift is dating Kansas City Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce. At this point you also don’t have to be a fan of either to see coverage of them, well, everywhere. Now, don’t worry—this isn’t going to be a piece about dissecting Swift’s dating life, or my thoughts on why they are getting so much coverage—though I do have plenty. I honestly could care less about Traylor? Taylce? Whatever the media is calling them. What I do care about, however, is the impact Swift has had on the game…and if it’s a good or bad thing.

Swift has been at two of the Chiefs early season games and while many have opinions on the amount of coverage she’s been given cheering for her man, there are a few stats that are irrefutable. The first: Kelce’s jersey sales have spiked 400% (that is not a typo) since the two have been linked. The second: viewership of her first “appearance” was up to 24.32 million viewers and scored the highest among female demographics across the ages of 12-17 and 18-49 that week. The NFL also changed their bio on X (FKA Twitter) to one of her lyrics and their header photo to a picture of the pop star.

Photos and videos from the Jets-Chiefs game show Swifties in their Eras Tour gear tailgating with Jets fans in their green and white jerseys. That’s a lot of power—even for someone with as…engaged of a fandom as Swift.

When I first saw all of this, I was honestly a little annoyed. As a female who genuinely loves watching and talking about capital-S-Sports, this felt like it was cop out for females to watch and talk about #sports. If you know the difference, you know. If you don’t, I’m talking about the girls who yell “Touchdown!” sometimes unironically at a basketball game. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying everyone has to be a diehard fan or even know all the rules to the sport they’re watching. But it can be hard to be taken seriously as a fan of any sport as a woman. You’re constantly quizzed on stats, asked to name “just one player”…you basically have to earn your right to call yourself a fan. So I was kind of scared any progress us female fans had made was going to be reversed, or at the very least knocked down a few pegs, due to  “The Swift Effect.”

But then I got to thinking. Football is pretty unanimously targeted to a male demographic. And while there are plenty of female fans who play Fantasy Football and don’t move from the couch from September to February on Sundays, those numbers definitely fail in comparison. So isn’t a boost in female viewership and attendance—for whatever reason— a good thing? Even if they are new to the game?

It’s entirely possible Swifties may have come to the party for Taylor, but ended up staying because they actually started to enjoy the game. Or, they may only stay for a few games and then decide it’s not for them. Either way, Swift’s relationship with Kelce has put the NFL on the map for some women and girls who hadn’t been watching before. It piqued their interest, and that’s definitely a win.

Some of the biggest hurdles women’s sports face are a lack of sponsors, marketing and airtime. Swift’s appearance at the games have shone a light on all three. Brands capitalized on real-time moments. Product sales increased. Viewership has gone way up. 

Whether The Swift Effect has a lasting effect or not, it’s introduced a whole new audience to the game. It’s shown that regardless of how you feel about her, when Taylor Swift shows up, our culture takes notice.

Now if we can only get her to a WNBA finals game…