There are two things you need to know right off the bat about Taylor Swift’s loyal legion of fans. There are tens of millions of “Swifties” all over the world. And they are a passionate, dedicated bunch.

“There is a lot of weight to what she does and a lot of weight to anything that she co-signs,” said Brittany Spanos, a Rolling Stone senior writer who taught a Taylor Swift course at NYU’s prestigious Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. “You see an artist that she is friends with or brings on tour or talks about their music, and that’s a huge boost to them. You see what happens when she wears certain designers or wears certain types of clothes, it just becomes a big moment.”

Advertisement

What she buys, they buy. What she supports, they do, too. So when Swift showed up Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City to cheer on her new friend (?), Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, her legion of Swifties followed, and it was, indeed, a big moment.

One that rocked the NFL world and kicked off one of the most insane pop culture crossover days in NFL history.

“We knew,” said Ian Trombetta, NFL SVP of social and influencer marketing, “it was going to be a culture moment like we haven’t seen (in some time).”

Taylor Swift is HERE for the Chiefs game 👀

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 24, 2023

With that moment was an unprecedented opportunity to engage an entirely new audience that might not be typically tuning into an NFL broadcast on a Sunday afternoon. But the league also had to be somewhat careful about not overdoing things.

“Anytime she was doing something, cheering for Travis, Travis was doing something and celebrating whatever that may have been, we knew we had to push that content very quickly,” Trombetta said. “But not at the expense of our other clubs or frankly the other players who were doing amazing things as they always do every single week.”

GO DEEPER

Kelce on Swift: 'Definitely a game I'll remember'

Still, Trombetta wanted the NFL, at least on the social side, to “lean in” as much as it could and connect with all the Swifties now fixated on football.

One post with the simple caption, “In her RED era,” was a nod to Swift’s album titled “Red” as well as Swift’s outfit in support of the Chiefs.

The NFL even cheekily updated its X (formerly Twitter) account bio to “NFL (Taylor’s Version)” — a nod to Swift re-recording her albums — along with a header photo of her at the game. NFL TikTok changed its bio to “9/24/23. Taylor was here.”

While the Fox broadcast and NFL produced plenty of Swift-related content, it was the fans — both of the pop icon and the NFL — who took it and ran with it. Among the highlights were hilarious posts explaining football and a TikTok trend teasing significant others about Kelce’s minuscule fame level compared to Swift’s.

FOOTBALL EXPLAINER FOR THOSE CONFUSED

you have 4 tries (downs) to go 10 yards, if you do you keep the ball and the cycle repeats, and if you don’t the other team gets it

you can score touchdowns for 6 points or kick a field goal for 3

thats basically all you need to know

— shannon (🩵s 1989 TV!!!) (@holygroundsound) September 24, 2023

The NFL explained for Swifties new to football!

— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) September 25, 2023

A photo of the pair in Kelce’s convertible led to memes as the “getaway car,” and contrary to Swift’s lyrics, it started plenty of good.

Advertisement

“The internet can be a really fun place,” Trombetta said. “And ultimately, this is what this is about. What’s powerful, I think with football and with our league as a whole, is the fact that we can bring people together. And in this case, we’re bringing Taylor Swift fans, especially young women, to the NFL and having a lot of fun with it.

“And at the end of the day, that’s really what it comes down to is celebrating the game, and having some fun, and we’re certainly leaning into that as much as we can.”

Whether it was the NFL’s efforts, or simply Swifties jumping quickly aboard the Kelce bandwagon, the results were staggering.

The Swifties showed out.

According to Fox, an estimated 24.3 million total viewers tuned into Sunday’s Chiefs–Chicago Bears game (yes, there was another team involved). It was the most-watched game of the week on any network and it ranked highest among these demographics: females 12-17 years old, females 18-34 years old and females 18-49 years old.

Swift effect (?)

SOURCE: pretty much every demo was down for FOX’s 4:25P NFL window (mix of Bears/Chiefs & Cardinals/Cowboys) week/week, with the exception of the female 12-17 demo, which was up 8.1% (1.87 rating v 1.73)

— Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) September 26, 2023

The league said it enjoyed record year-over-year Week 3 engagement on its social channels It was also a record week for NFL content consumption on social media — the league reported, “record video views for Taylor Swift content on the NFL TikTok — including videos from NFL platforms, broadcast partner platforms (Fox, CBS) and user-generated content.

The Chiefs alone grew their social followers by 200,000-plus while Kelce’s followers grew by 400,000-plus.

“You’ve seen the numbers on how the women’s audience increased. There was just so much social media exposure as well about teaching people about the NFL,” said Lisa Delpy Neirotti, director of the MS in Sport Management Program and an associate professor at George Washington University. “I think it was definitely a win for the NFL no matter what happens with this relationship.”

Advertisement

Swift has had a busy year in the spotlight already. She has sold out stadiums across the country on her “Eras Tour” and has embarked on the international phase of the tour. Her personal life — always under a microscope — has also been in focus after a breakup with longtime partner Joe Alwyn (and a brief relationship with singer Matt Healy in the spring). But the stadium shows dominated summer pop culture.

And that’s partly where the Kelce-Swift storyline began.

Anyone know how to get a bracelet to @taylorswift13? … asking for a friend 😅 @BWWings

New episode premieres NOW!

Tap in:

— New Heights (@newheightshow) July 26, 2023

After attending Swift’s show at Arrowhead Stadium in July, Kelce later said he wanted to meet Swift and give her a friendship bracelet with his number on it. The tight end was disappointed about the star’s custom of not meeting people before concerts to save her voice for the three-hour nightly extravaganza. But he remained hopeful. In September, rumors of a potential romance started spreading. Once Kelce said he’d invited Swift to watch a game at Arrowhead Stadium, it felt like only a matter of time.

Sports stars and pop superstars are hardly a new phenomenon when it comes to celebrity couples. From Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias to David and Victoria Beckham to Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez, there’s plenty of precedence.

But the timing for both Swift and Kelce has put them and their potential coupling in a different stratosphere. Kelce was already a future Hall of Famer. A mainstay of the Andy Reid era, he’s the longest-tenured Chiefs player and a beloved figure in Kansas City. And he’s moved beyond just the field, appearing on his own reality show, in numerous national commercials throughout the early part of this season and hosting the successful “New Heights” podcast with his brother and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce. After winning his second Super Bowl last February, Kelce hosted “Saturday Night Live” and his suit from his monologue resides in the Chiefs Hall of Honor at the stadium.

Travis Kelce’s outfit from his appearance on Saturday Night Live is the latest addition to the Chiefs Hall of Honor.

It’s not every day that a two-time champ hosts SNL.

— Matt McMullen (@KCChiefs_Matt) April 12, 2023

That second Super Bowl was arguably when he reached peak fame, thanks to going up against his brother, with mom Donna stuck cheering in the middle.

Advertisement

Until now.

“It’s such a fascinating marketing situation,” Delpy Neirotti said. “I’ve never seen something like this where you’ve had so much interest in both parties. But there’s no greater fan base than Swifties. And then you combine that with sports and you get a lot of interest.”

Given his success and persona, Kelce was already a popular figure in the league. But after Sunday, Kelce’s No. 87 jersey jumped within the top five in NFL jersey sales, according to Fanatics. The sports clothing and merchandise company said earlier this week that sales for his jersey rose nearly 400 percent through NFLShop.com and other Fanatics sites. The KidSuper Studio jacket Kelce wore going into Sunday’s game sold out. So did the Chiefs windbreaker that Swift wore Sunday.

“Swifties really love to buy up stuff,” Spanos said. “They’ll buy up five different vinyl versions of each of her albums, it’s going to be no different for the athlete she’s been rumored to maybe be dating.”

Whether it’s a friendship, fling or a full-on romance will remain to be seen, but the rumor machine around the pair isn’t slowing down yet and neither is the Swift economy effect. Spanos is already anticipating the Kelce-Swift Halloween costumes.

It also hasn’t hurt ticket sales. After Swift’s appearance, according to StubHub, the New York Jets sold more tickets in a single day for their “Sunday Night Football” matchup against the Chiefs since the season started (by more than double).

And that was before rumors Swift would be in attendance at MetLife Stadium.

NEWS: Taylor Swift is expected to attend this week’s Chiefs-Jets 'Sunday Night Football' game at MetLife Stadium, sources tell FOS.

NBC is set to see massive ratings as a result.

Details from @MMcCarthyREV »

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) September 27, 2023

The company also tripled its sales in a 24-hour window for Chiefs’ home games compared to each of the few days prior. In total, sales for Sunday’s game are up 13 percent since Swift’s appearance at last weekend’s game.

Advertisement

While Trombetta isn’t sure if she’ll be there, there’s a standing offer from the league.

“I think it’s fair to say she’s invited to any game she wants to come to,” Trombetta said with a laugh. “We’ll make it happen.”

(Photo illustration: Samuel Richardson / The Athletic; photos: Jason Hanna, David Eulitt / Getty Images)

The Football 100, the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, goes on sale this fall. Pre-order it here.