How the NFL successfully harnessed The Taylor Swift Effect
By Megan E. Collins, Cultural Anthropologist & Swiftie
While Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce has been doing his best to woo Taylor Swift, the NFL has also been attempting to court her massive fanbase. According to a Morning Consult 2023 Survey in the U.S., “53% [approx 134 M] of adults said they were fans of Swift, of whom 44% [approx 59 M] identified as Swifties.” Compare that to the average NFL viewership for a regular season game over the last 5 years (source: Forbes):
2022 16.7 Million
2021 17.1 Million
2020 15.64 Million
2019 16.5 Million
2018 15.8 Million
If Taylor Swift’s The Era’s Tour has proven anything, it’s that she and the Swifties are an economic force to be reckoned with. Boy have they been good for the NFL’s business. The interest in Taylor’s presence (and relationship with Travis) has led to:
Record viewership: “The Kansas City Chiefs’ 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers averaged 120 million viewers on CBS, by itself the largest telecast on record. Simulcasts on Nickelodeon, Univision, Paramount+ and other digital platforms pushed the total to 123.4 million. No other broadcast in American TV history — at least as measured by Nielsen — has drawn more people.” -The Hollywood Reporter
Increased merchandise sales: According to sportswear and fan merchandise company Fanatics, Kelce was one of the top-selling NFL players on Sunday. He "saw a nearly 400% spike in sales throughout the Fanatics network of sites, including NFLShop.com -The AP
New audiences: Compared to an average of the first three weeks of "Sunday Night Football," the biggest demographic gains [for the Chiefs-Jets game] were among girls 12 to 17 (53%), women 18 to 24 (24%) and women older than 35 (34%), the network said, citing preliminary Nielsen data. - NBC
Before we start shipping Jimmy Garoppolo and Ariana Grande, it’s important to note that simply plopping any other global pop superstar in the bleachers would not draw this response. After all, Justin Bieber was also in attendance. Beyond her massively large reach, Taylor’s superpower lies in the incredibly deep parasocial relationship she has with her fandom.
Taylor Swift’s consistent confessional lyricism and distinct brand of vulnerability over 18 years have created a bond with her fans. What’s important to Taylor, becomes important to Swifties. Luckily, for the NFL Taylor’s chosen one of their players, and it’s become a spectacular marketing opportunity.
From showing up in Chiefs merch to root for her man to singing “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me” and all but confirming the relationship live on stage, she’s managed to do what she does best: captivate us with a romantic narrative that’s so beautifully crafted it feels almost too good to be true. While the NFL brand did kick off its season with a campaign joking about the NFL being scripted, I don’t believe they would’ve conceived of this in their Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version). The NFL got lucky with a golden opportunity from a once-in-a-lifetime public romance. That said, they did a few really smart things to make a historically male-dominant space, more inclusive to a younger female audience:
Taking Taylor (& her brand) seriously
Anyone can make a friendship bracelet, but the NFL took it further. Despite protests from Brads & Chads, the NFL continued to lean into the Taylor Swift of it all. Beyond cutting to shots of her reacting to the game, the league and networks leaned into embedding Taylor Swift lore, easter eggs, and lyrical references. They went out of their way to make sure Taylor had an open invite to the game and spoiled her with thoughtful gifts (much to the delight of her most adoring fans)
Embracing the NFL WAG era
While the most visible, Taylor Swift was not the only “WAG” the NFL shone the spotlight on this year. TikTokers Alix Earle and Allison Kuch were the go-to content creators doing ads and appearances with the league. These creators are often in conversation alongside other notable WAGS with large online followings, like Olivia Culpo and Brittany Mahomes. Now there’s yet another Bravo show I would watch…Championing women’s involvement in the league
But the WAG who scored the most was Kristin Juszczyk who is married to 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk. For her part, Kristin has built a reputation for herself due to her creations taking NFL merch and reworking it to be more haute couture. When fellow WAG Brittany Mahomes ordered a jacket for a game, she decided to proactively make a jacket for Taylor Swift as well who had been frequenting games with Mahomes. The rest was herstory. Swift wore the jacket to a game and since then, Kirstin has ho landed a never-been-done before licensing deal with the NFL.