Mariah’s Version
When I was a kid, I loved watching Phoenix Suns basketball with my dad.
He always encouraged my interests in athletics. When I started playing soccer, he showed up to every game. When I got the fastest time in the 50-meter dash at school, he cheered me on.
And, when I showed an interest in Phoenix Suns basketball, he bought tickets. One of my favorite memories as a kid was watching a game court side.
Even as I bonded with my dad over sports, I wasn’t that different from countless other young girls in my music taste.
I loved Hannah Montana and Taylor Swift — and both became some of my first concert experiences. My dad tagged along to both the “Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds” tour in 2007, and to Swift’s “Speak Now” tour in 2011.
They might not have been his favorite artists, but there was still something special about knowing my dad cared about all my interests.
Now, over a decade later, my dad’s Facebook page has repeatedly been used in defense of Swift for doing exactly what I did as a kid: showing up to a sporting event.
Yet, what feels really worrisome is the amount of vitriol Swift has received for ending up on cameras at the Kansas City Chiefs’ games.
Fired up
Since Swift first showed up at a Chiefs game in October to cheer on her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, she’s been in the headlines. Her appearance has sparked plenty of discourse.
From individuals on social media expressing anger over the cameras cutting to Swift, to NFL commentators who mocked the league’s engagement with her, she has received plenty of hate over showing up to games.
They’ve even blamed her for hurting Kelce’s game — which is untrue. His stats with Swift in attendance show he actually plays better with her there.
Swift’s fans, in the meantime, have shown plenty of love to tight-end Kelce as he appears at her concerts.
The double standard where he’s a good boyfriend for showing up while she’s a problem for doing the same has been tough to watch.
She’s not in control of when the cameras pan to her, and she’s being a good girlfriend by sitting in the stands and supporting her man. If she’s a distraction, it’s not her fault.
By the numbers
But, if you ask me, she’s not even a distraction, so that argument is moot, too.
Sure, she may appear on the cameras from time to time.
But the cameras aren’t panning to her when something exciting is happening in the game. And, the action makes up a measly amount of a football broadcast anyway.
According to the Wall Street Journal, only about 11 minutes of a three-hour long football game broadcast actually focus on the field. Seventeen minutes go to replays, and another hour of the broadcast typically shows players and coaches “standing around.”
By contrast, Swift’s screen time during the games she’s attended averages out to less than 25 seconds.
It’s understandable why football fans might be frustrated that they get such a minimal amount of action in a broadcast. But that’s not Swift’s fault.
Not to mention, Swift has provided a big boost to the Chiefs brand. By just showing up to Chiefs’ games, Swift has increased the brand’s value by $331.5 million.
A new audience
Perhaps the most positive aspect of Swift’s engagement with the NFL has been its surge in viewership, particularly among women.
The NFL had its highest ever regular season viewership among women this year since it started tracking those numbers in 2000.
If you ask me, it’s a good thing that women are engaging in athletics. Sports can help drive gender equality in significant ways. They teach women about teamwork and resilience and show men and women as equals.
That’s important, especially because women’s sports haven’t always been equal to men’s. That only began to come about in 1972, with the passage of Title IX.
Football remains a male-dominated sport, but that’s something the NFL has taken steps to try to change.
Sarah Thomas became the first woman to full time officiate in the NFL in 2015. In 2022, the league required all teams to employ a woman or racial minority as an offensive assistant. No woman has ever played on an NFL team.
But that doesn’t mean women can’t have a seat at the table in the league at all.
Yet, by knocking Taylor Swift for simply showing up, that’s the message disgruntled fans send to women engaging with the sport. It’s a poor message generally.
It especially sends a poor message to young women making the sport more inclusive at all levels — which we saw here in Ashland this fall, with the first all girls’ flag football team at the YMCA.
Those girls reminded me of that younger version of myself, who could be interested in sports and in music.
In encouraging it all, my dad taught me that I can chase down my dreams and I deserve to take up space.
So does Taylor Swift — and so does every woman that loves Swift and has grown to love football too.
Carl’s Version
I don’t hate Taylor Swift. I don’t even dislike Taylor Swift. If I was younger, I may be a Taylor Swift fan.
Heck, I am 62 years old. Until she started showing up repeatedly during NFL broadcasts this season while cheering for her boyfriend, I couldn’t have picked Taylor Swift out of a criminal lineup, sequins and all.
This may come as a shock to many. But TS music is not my jam. I am a fan of both kinds of music — country and western.
But I love football. Always have. Huge Green Bay Packers fan since childhood. Vince Lombardi. Bart Starr. Jim Taylor. Paul Hornung.
Football.
I am a fan of what happens on the field. 100 yards long. 53 yards wide. That is my focus during a game.
Not any owner’s box. Not any rich person’s suite.
It has nothing to do with the gender of the person in the box or suite.
I didn’t like when cameras used to swing up to show a frowning owner Art Modell during Cleveland Browns’ games.
I am not a fan today when Dallas owner Jerry Jones gets as much air time during a game as Dak Prescott, though the Packers’ fan in me loves seeing him nearly cry.
No, to paraphrase Gen. Douglas McCarthur, I am interested in one thing: “The Game. The Game. The Game.”
Glad for the attention
Let me be clear about another thing. Have I said I do not dislike Taylor Swift? So all the Swifties can stand down and shake it off.
(I didn’t know what a Swiftie was so I looked it up. “Swifties’ investigative skills are so sharp, they could probably find Amelia Earhart using only Taylor Swift’s song lyrics as clues.”)
The fact is I am in favor of nearly anything that brings more fans into the game I grew up watching with my dad. Football at all levels — high school, college and pro — should have a big tent where all feel welcome.
But I don’t know if the “new fans” are coming to watch and enjoy the game of football, that thing that happens a few seconds at a time between the whistles.
I suspect they are just coming to cheer and celebrate EACH and EVERY time the cameras show Swift a.) walking into the stadium in an oversized Chiefs coat; b.) celebrating in the suite above when Travis Kelce makes a play; c.) smooching and hugging the league’s best TE on the field after the game.
There was a recent editorial cartoon showing a young woman watching a Chiefs game and asking loudly, “How many more innings before Travis gets a free throw?”
An adult male in the cartoon, presumably her dad, clearly seemed exasperated. That may be a common scene in households around the country Sunday evening.
If so, I hope and pray those dads are like my colleague Mariah’s dad and use the game itself as a teachable moment to really introduce the game of football to their children.
But I have my suspicions
But I have some suspicions that are hard for me to shake off.
How many of the new fans drawn to football since the “Shake It Off” singer made the scene are watching Ravens-Jaguars games or Rams-49ers games?
Correct answer: Not many.
Admission: “Shake It Off” is the only TS song I know. They played it a lot at wedding receptions a few years ago.
How many of these “new NFL fans,” all of whom became “fans” since Swift first appeared at a Chiefs’ game on Sept. 24, would be watching the Super Bowl on Sunday evening if Baltimore had beaten Kansas City last weekend?
Correct answer: Not many.
How many of these “new football” fans will continue to cheer for the Chiefs when Kelce retires to spend more time with Swift traveling to concerts around the globe? That moment could come as soon as Sunday night when KC wins another NFL title.
Correct answer: Not many.
Rooting for the ‘G’
In my lifetime and my experience, football fans cheer for a team, not a player. We root for the logo on the helmet, not the name on the back of the jersey. And certainly not for the fans in the stands — or the suites.
As a Packers’ fan (and owner of one share of team stock), that means I root for the “G.” Players come and go. All of them. Some have had celebrity wives or girlfriends.
This past season, Green Bay had a safety named Jonathan Owens, who is married to Olympic Gold Medal gymnast Simone Biles. She attended many games to root for her husband. I don’t recall an in-game moment when TV cameras panned to her in the stands.
Biles is the most decorated gymnast in U.S. history. Highly recognizable. Packer fans cheered for her when saw they saw on the field before a game. But once the game began, we focused on the game.
I am biased, but Packers fans are easily the best in football.
Our team plays in the cathedral of the sport at Lambeau Field.
I have nothing against Taylor Swift, an accomplished musician and vocalist who deserves all the accolades in the world. Her fans are devoted. As a Packers’ fan, I understand that devotion.
But when the Super Bowl starts on Sunday, I will be focused on The Game.