L'effetto di Taylor Swift sull'NFL ci ricorda l'importanza delle Power Couples

As much as we consider sport to be the greatest global spectacle of our time, capable of turning any player into a world star, there are situations that put our view into perspective. This is what happened on 25 September during the NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Bears, which was watched by over 24 million viewers in front of the screens of the NBC channel and which was basically a defeat. Indeed, the defending NFL champions had an easy time dominating the visitors thanks to the usual magic of Patrick Mahomes, currently the league's strongest quarterback. But for once, the real spectacle took place not on the field at Arrowhead but in the stands, where in one of the skyboxes reserved for the illustrious guests, Taylor Swift arrived unannounced, which was perhaps as it should have been, given the cameras already positioned. The world's biggest pop star wore a Chiefs windbreaker, which will sell out in a few hours, to cheer on her new boyfriend, tight end Travis Kelce, who until then had only been speculated about.

Taylor Swift's audience and NFL fans are most likely the two superpowers of the entertainment industry in the US, able to move numbers and crowds like no other industry. Only they had never spoken to each other before, or at least not with such conviction. Taylor Swift came to Arrowhead during a break in her Eras Tour, a concert tour that can bring in more than $1 billion in ticket sales, and immediately changed the face of American football. Ian Trombetta, senior VP for social and influencer marketing at the NFL, was also surprised by the tidal wave that hit Football Sunday. "I think we were all surprised by how much attention this story got. We have celebrities, influencers and stars of all kinds at all the games this week. But the interesting thing is the intrigue of, "Is there a relationship?" and "What's next for Taylor beyond just being at a game?" This story has really fuelled this wave of global attention."

Let's try to quantify that attention for a simple regular-season NFL game. When Taylor Swift showed up at MetLife Stadium a week later with her Hollywood friends Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Sophie Turner, the game against the New York Jets became the most-watched Sunday broadcast since the last Super Bowl, also won by the Kansas City Chiefs, with 27 million viewers on NBC and Peacock. Not the most-watched game, but the most-watched TV broadcast of all time. The Nielsen Auditel study estimates that 35% more women and 53% more teenage girls tuned in to Sunday Football than last season. An effect guaranteed by the mere presence of the world's biggest pop star shouting touchdowns to his new girlfriend.

But of course, the Swifties' influence didn't stop at TV 's numbers; as always, the singer's avid fans stormed any property that could bring them even one step closer to their heroine. For example, Fanatics, the official distributor of NFL merchandise, reported a 400% increase in Travis Kelce jerseys sold over the weekend, while numerous items in Kansas City Chiefs colours and symbols sold out. The NFL immediately recognised that a new audience was arriving that needed to be intercepted, and quickly set about creating content tailored specifically to Swifties. 'We knew,' Trombetta says, 'that we were experiencing a cultural moment that we don't often see in the NFL.' Swift's Twitter profile quickly changed the bio to 'NFL (Taylor's Version)," alluding to Swift's habit of re-recording her albums, while the TikTok profile also read '9/24/23. Taylor was here'. The league also began using songs by the pop star as music in their videos on social channels, proving that there must have been at least one contact with the singer's management to use her most famous songs.

But the biggest beneficiary of this relationship is, of course, Travis Kelce himself, who in a matter of hours has become not only the most talked about athlete in the States, but also one of the most followed and most wanted. In the days following the game against the Bears, Kelce's Instagram follower count increased by over 400,000, while the Chiefs' increased by 200,000. Parrot Analytics, which conducts research based on Wikipedia, Google, social media and more, found that Kelce is the third most searched public figure in the US since 25 September, the day after Swift attended her first NFL game, behind only Beyoncé and Taylor Swift herself. And 'New Heights', the podcast Kelce co-hosts with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles centre Jason Kelce, is number one on Spotify and Apple and has gained more than 200,000 YouTube subscribers in a fortnight.

Travis Kelce is not just any player, he is by far the strongest tight end in the league and a surefire Hall of Famer. His telepathic connection to Patrick Mahomes has made the Chiefs an almost unsinkable team, and his brash and boisterous nature off the field has made him a cult figure. It wasn't even enough that last season the entire Super Bowl, the most important sporting and cultural event in the United States of America, revolved around the two Kelce brothers competing first in the game that brings a country to a standstill. After winning his second ring, he even hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live last year, proving he's as comfortable in the spotlight as he is on third down. But neither the Kelce Bowl nor SNL could match the impact of the Swifties, which made Travis Kelce a pop figure in his own right and introduced the NFL to an audience that would never have spent three hours in front of a game before.

The history of sport is full of examples of relationships between celebrity athletes and film or music stars, from Joe Di Maggio and Marylin Monroe to Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez or Francesco Totti and Ilary Blasi, that changed the public's perception of sport. Also the documentary about David Beckham's life that just came out on Netflix reminds us how his marriage to Victoria helped make him an unmatched style icon to this day. The cold fusion between the Swifties and the NFL reminds us that the sport still relies on outside fan bases to grow its catchment area, and that sometimes even the most casual power couple can draw whole swarms of loyal followers to one side or the other. It's impossible to say how long Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's relationship will last, but we can already bet on who the real winner will be: the NFL.