This past Sunday I was lucky enough to watch the biggest matchup of the NFL season. Not Bills-Dolphins, which I did get to see in person and enjoyed! It was Taylor Swift and the NFL on Sunday Night Football.
Sure, there’s Travis Kelce but honestly, he’s just Ken.
I am all in when it comes to the NFL doing the most to take advantage of Taylor Swift going to games. It’s a match made in heaven.
Both have big hits. Both enjoy a proper commercial rollout. And both have uncomfortably passionate fan bases to anyone looking from the outside.
Yet there are still many NFL fans (mostly men) crying about how much the NFL is taking advantage of its sudden partnership with Swift. They don’t want the cutaways during games. They hate the Swift references in tweets and profile bios. And, man, they do not like a Taylor Swift cover photo.
But their protest against the “Swiftization” of NFL content is silly.
Dressing up in honor of past eras; reading too much into public comments or social media posts; fighting with other fans about the supremacy of your fav and using out-of-context statistics to make your point for you.
NFL fans ARE Swifties.
The NFL doesn’t become the multi-billion dollar behemoth it is without its fans being as engrossed in what their team’s next game plan is as Swift fans are with which surprise song she will play at her next show.
The NFL fan who crosses his arms and cries foul because NBC is cutting to Taylor Swift after major moments aren’t angry at Swifties. They’re angry at themselves. They’re seeing what the non-sports world sees when they look at them. And they’re not a fan.
The truth can be difficult.
I don’t doubt there is a subset of Swifties who hate this just as much. I would also be upset if I was previously unaware of the New York Jets and then suddenly had to watch them.
Fortunately, the NFL won’t pay attention to those people. The league understands that sometimes the loudest voices are also the most wrong. While there are plenty of things to criticize the league for, I can at least appreciate they’re having some fun with “Traylor” and perhaps gaining some new fans in the process.
The NFL isn’t necessarily doing anything groundbreaking. Featuring Swift in its Twitter cover photo, writing “NFL (Taylor’s Version)” in its Twitter bio, or “chiefs are 2-0 as swifites” in their Instagram bio is just fun. Sharing videos of Swift on all social channels will help with engagement numbers, but it’s not necessarily unique to Swift. Celebrities watching sports always makes for solid social content.
And if taking Swifties’ interests seriously will help grow the fan base, it’s ultimately what we should all want: More people to enjoy watching football with. More people to talk about how terrible the Bears are (As a Lions fan,I can never stop talking about how terrible the Bears are). More people to have a good time with.
We’re all huge uncomfortably passionate dorks in our own way. The more we lean into that, and welcome people into it, the more joy we’ll get out of the things we love.
H. Jose Bosch 