Some people are planning to spend more on soccer this year—because of Taylor Swift
The NFL season begins tonight with a game between the Baltimore Ravens and the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s the moment die-hard football fans have been waiting for since the Big Game was played in February. It’s also a highly anticipated moment for another group of recent gridiron converts—Taylor Swift fans.
Ever since the pop star started dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in 2022, an unexpected number of new fans have flocked to the NFL for the first time. By now, the excitement of football matches has become a familiar feeling for Swifties. In fact, according to recent research data, Swift is not only focusing on the NFL this season, but also driving her fans to spend money that way.
In a survey by online lending marketplace Lending Tree, 17% of Americans said they liked football more this season because of Swift—and 14% said they would spend more money on football this season because of him. With input from more than 2,000 Americans, the survey suggests the money will be spent on either game tickets (19%), tailgating and drinks (23%), or merchandise (26%). That last goal shouldn’t come as a surprise, as sales of Kelce’s jersey jumped 400 percent after Swift made his first appearance at a Chiefs game earlier last season—not to mention the “Traylor” emblazoned with slogans like “Karma is the Guy on. Chiefs,” which appeared to be doing brisk business on Etsy.
Taylor Swift’s impact on the NFL is already profound. The league broke the season-long tradition of cutting the star, who attended many games, with the Super Bowl which ended up being the most-watched telecast of all time, reaching 123.7 million viewers. After the season ended, 64% of Gen Z and millennial women said they had a positive opinion of the NFL, the highest in Morning Consult’s tracking among that demo. The connection between the league and Swift remains strong, almost every cultural issue affecting the Chiefs in recent months ends up being filtered through a Swiftian prism.
This study is just the latest sign that all the attention will continue as long as the relationship lasts. On the other hand, the NFL seems to be very happy with this arrangement. In the latest promo video for the 2024-2025 season, Swift has more screen time than any real football player.
Of course, the relationship between some football fans and Swift is not a love affair.
We also provide proof of Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion—that every action has an equal and opposite reaction—as 17% of Americans say they like football more this season because of Swift, and another 17% say they have. Underneath interest in watching football this season because of his connection to all things football. In fact, according to the survey, 44% of respondents will go where they say hatred what Taylor Swift did in the NFL. (To be clear: All Swift has done is attend her partner’s games while wearing beautiful clothes. Everything else that follows is due to economic considerations.)
However, it seems fitting that the artist’s greatest influence on the game would be very different. After all, football is a game fueled by bad blood. But unless those aggrieved fans plan to protest this season by boycotting all the games, which is impossible, they will have to act like running back to face the evil and shake it off.
