By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Even though an official relationship isn’t confirmed yet, who could’ve predicted that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce would ever interact at all? Not me, that’s for sure. Not even in my “Wildest Dreams.”
This celebrity couple is unlike anything the NFL has ever seen before. A pop icon at Swift’s level is hard enough to find, and now she has shown up for back-to-back Kansas City Chiefs games.
Swift’s most recent showing came on Sunday Night Football, so the NBC broadcast completely catered to the spiked audience of “Swifties.” This makes sense, as our click-driven society ate it up and drove ratings through the roof.
This apparent extension of Swift’s Eras Tour has been the eye candy of the NFL, networks and pretty much any national media outlet you can think of. It’s what makes this friendship — or whatever you want to call it — so fascinating.
It has to be the biggest win for the superstar tight end as well as the NFL, right? Swift fans probably weren’t going to tune into the Chicago Bears’ game against the Chiefs on Sept. 24, but when one Swiftie texts another, saying, “OMG, Taylor is watching Travis right now, and she’s with his mom at the game. Turn this on,” and you get the domino effect.
Now, let’s be frank. Neither Swift nor Kelce needed any more exposure, recognition or accolades. The two of them have established their own global reach throughout their illustrious careers. But let’s call a spade a spade. Kelce’s seen more Instagram followers since this saga than he did during all three of his Super Bowls combined, according to ESPN Insider Adam Schefter.
Front Office Sports also reported the following statistics following Swift’s appearance at the Kansas City-Chicago game.
- 400% spike in Kelce jersey sales
- Kelce’s podcast ranks No. 1 overall on Apple
- Kelce adds 383K Instagram followers
- 24.3M viewers watch — No. 1 game that week
- 63% jump in female viewers age 18-49
- 3x increase in “Chiefs” searches on web
- 3x increase in Chiefs sales on Stubhub
- Chiefs sold more tickets in a single day since the start of the season
These numbers are staggering. Swift is carrying the load right now, as nothing has been reported on her end in terms of streams or merchandise sales, but there’s definitely a chance that it’s happening or could come to fruition in the near future.
Whether there’s anything intimate about this relationship or if it’s strictly friendly, you can’t help but respect the genius PR move that it is. Something as unprecedented as Swift and Kelce being spotted together is real, and it’s something we have to get used to, barring a sudden split. The coming weeks will be telling in terms of whether there’s any real substance here moving forward.
