Taylor Swift’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has generated a lot of buzz among NFL fans, with opinions ranging from admiration to criticism. However, players also have strong views on Swift’s presence at games.
In The Athletic‘s 2024 anonymous NFL player poll, a significant 72.5 percent of players saw Swift’s interest in the game as a positive for the league, while only 4.9 percent viewed it negatively. The rest fell under the category of neither negative nor positive.
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The collaboration between Swift and the NFL was just one of the many topics surveyed in the poll by The Athletic‘s beat writers. Players were able to share their thoughts freely on various league-related matters.
One player mentioned, “I think it’s been positive for the league. I think that at the end of the day, it’s a business and you need to get as many eyes on it as possible. And she brings a lot of eyes, so, you know, if that increases the salary cap, I don’t think anybody’s gonna be too mad about that one.”
Another player highlighted the positive aspect by stating, “A lot of Swifties who don’t watch football are now watching it.” They added, “Bringing more people to the game of football is always good.”
On the other hand, players who saw negativity in Swift’s involvement felt that it diverted attention away from the actual game.
One player expressed, “I feel like she is getting unnecessary coverage. There was the whole NFL opening season video on Twitter and she was featured five times and our quarterback was featured none. That’s not even right. She is not the NFL.”
FOOTBALL IS BACK THIS WEEK 🏈 🚨 pic.com/YVR8kbZnfm
— NFL (@NFL) September 2, 2024
While some players see both positive and negative aspects to Swift’s presence at games, others simply don’t care. One player remarked, “I’ll jam to some Taylor Swift, but I don’t give a s— if she’s at the game or not.”
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(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)