Whether you wanted to or not: The fact that Chiefs superstar Travis Kelce and pop icon Taylor Swift started a romance in the past few weeks should not have gone unnoticed by any NFL fan. For Kelce himself, the coverage about him and his partner is already too much. The NFL defends itself against this criticism.
“The news of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce was a pop culture moment that we seized on in real time because of the intersection of sports and entertainment. We saw an incredible amount of positivity surrounding sports,” the NFL said in a statement .
Travis Kelce and his brother Jason (center with the Eagles) had previously criticized the NFL’s reporting. In their podcast “New Heights” the two brothers talked about this reporting.
“I think it’s fun when they show who was at the games. I think it adds something to the atmosphere, gives the viewer a little more. But at the same time I think…” Travis Kelce starts and Jason finishes the sentence : “overdo it.”
The Chiefs’ tight end also shares this opinion: “They’re overdoing it a bit, for sure. (…) But I think they’re just having fun with it,” says the now 34-year-old, not entirely deterred.
Taylor Swift brings strong ratings to the NFL
The NFL is definitely having fun with the story. After the Chiefs’ win against the Jets, Instagram read: “The Chiefs are 2-0 as Swifties.” At the same time, the bio was also changed on “X” and called it “NFL (Taylor’s Version)”.
“We are constantly changing our bios and profile pictures depending on what’s happening in and around the games, as well as culturally,” the NFL said in a statement on its social media activity.
However, the success proves the league right. The duel between the Kansas Chiefs and the New York Jets, which Swift watched live in the stadium, had the best ratings since the Super Bowl with 27 million TV viewers. This was reported by “NBC Sports”.