While a lot of players admitted that Taylor Swift’s presence in games has a positive impact on the NFL, some believe that the league might be overdoing it.
In a recent anonymous player poll conducted by The Athletic, 72.5 percent of the players surveyed agreed that Swift’s interest in the NFL and the resulting coverage from it have been beneficial to the league. Meanwhile, 22.5 percent are basically neutral—noting that it has both positive and negative benefits—while 4.9 percent view it negatively.
Among those who think Swift’s presence has its pros and cons, one pointed out that the NFL might be turning off a lot of true NFL fans by showing the pop star on camera several times during a game.
As the unnamed player explained, “people get sick” of it.
“It’s bringing more attention to the game,” the player shared. “But I feel like they’ve been using her face. If she’s at a game, they probably show her like six, seven times. People get … sick of it if they keep doing it over and over again. So I think they’ve got to find a balance.”
Taylor Swift attending a Chiefs game.
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
For what it’s worth, the said player is not alone in that sentiment. Another NFL athlete who answered the poll echoed a similar statement, highlighting that Kansas City Chiefs fans are probably “not trying to see Taylor Swift every commercial break or every timeout.”
“It’s a positive and negative,” the aforementioned player continued. “The reason I say that is it’s great the impact she’s making on the younger female generation and getting them to learn about the sport. … The negative is all the true football fans who are tired of seeing it.”
It remains to be seen if the NFL will try to balance out the Taylor Swift coverage during Chiefs games, but considering her popularity, it might be hard for the league to do so. That’s free publicity after all.
As for Swift fans, they will likely see more of the music icon in the next couple of weeks as she promised to attend her boyfriend, Travis Kelce’s games as much as she can.
