Taylor Swift has drawn tons of commentary from NFL followers — together with each reward and ire — since she started relationship Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce final 12 months and have become a fixture within the stands. However followers aren’t the one ones with opinions on Swift’s presence at video games.
The overwhelming majority of gamers included in The Athletic’s 2024 nameless NFL participant ballot — 72.5 % to be precise — stated they seen the pop star’s curiosity within the recreation (and the protection that stemmed from it) as optimistic for the league. Solely 4.9 % of gamers polled seen it as a unfavorable, and 22.5 % seen it as neither unfavorable nor optimistic.
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The Swift-NFL partnership was one of many many topics The Athletic’s beat writers surveyed gamers about to incorporate on this 12 months’s ballot, with 102 votes forged on the subject. Gamers had been granted anonymity to talk freely about issues impacting the league.
“I believe it’s been optimistic for the league,” one participant stated. “I believe that on the finish of the day, it’s a enterprise and you must get as many eyes on it as doable. And he or she brings lots of eyes, so, you recognize, if that will increase the wage cap, I don’t assume anyone’s gonna be too mad about that one.”
One other participant who voted “optimistic” famous that “lots of Swifties who don’t watch soccer at the moment are watching it.”
“Bringing extra folks to the sport of soccer is at all times good,” that participant stated.
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“Extra followers, broader horizon,” stated one other participant within the “optimistic” vote camp. “She has a worldwide fan base. Non-football followers will develop into followers or at the least viewers in america.”
Conversely, gamers who highlighted the “unfavorable” parts urged it distracted viewers from the game.
“I really feel like she is getting pointless protection,” stated one participant who voted for the “unfavorable” aspect. “There was the entire NFL opening season video on Twitter and she or he was featured 5 instances and our quarterback was featured none. That’s not even proper. She isn’t the NFL.”
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One other participant who voted “unfavorable” stated it was as a result of he felt like “lots of people are speaking extra about that than the soccer recreation happening.”
Others seen Swift’s presence on the video games as each optimistic and unfavorable.
“It’s bringing extra consideration to the sport,” one participant stated, “however I really feel like they’ve been utilizing her face. If she’s at a recreation, they in all probability present her like six, seven instances. Individuals get … sick of it in the event that they maintain doing it over and over. So I believe they’ve received to discover a steadiness.”
“It’s a optimistic and unfavorable,” stated one other participant. “The rationale I say that’s it’s nice the affect she’s making on the youthful feminine era and getting them to study in regards to the sport. … The unfavorable is all of the true soccer followers who’re uninterested in seeing it. We’re glad it’s elevating engagement, but when I’m a Chiefs fan, I’m not attempting to see Taylor Swift each business break or each timeout. We all know she’s there.”
Like some followers, different gamers didn’t care, with one saying, “I’ll jam to some Taylor Swift, however I don’t give a s— if she’s on the recreation or not.”
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(Picture: Jamie Squire / Getty Pictures)
