Taylor Swift has drawn loads of comments from NFL fans – including each praise and ire – since she began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce last 12 months and have become a fixture within the stands became. But fans aren't the one ones who’ve their opinions on Swift's presence at games.
The overwhelming majority of players involved within the anonymous 2024 NFL Player Survey — 72.5 percent, to be exact — said they viewed the pop star's interest in the sport (and the resulting coverage) as a positive for the league. Only 4.9 percent of the players surveyed saw it negatively and 22.5 percent saw it neither negatively nor positively.
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The Swift-NFL partnership was one in every of the numerous topics that 's Beat Writers asked players about that they wanted to incorporate on this 12 months's survey, with 102 votes forged on the subject. Players were granted anonymity to talk freely about matters impacting the league.
“I think it was positive for the league,” one player said. “I think at the end of the day it's a business and you need to keep as many eyes on it as possible. And she brings a lot of eyes with her, so if that increases the salary cap, I don’t think anyone will be that mad about it.”
Another player who voted “positive” noted that “a lot of Swifties who don't watch football are watching it now.”
“It’s always good to bring more people to the football game,” said this player.
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“More fans, broader horizons,” said one other player within the “positive” voter camp. “She has a worldwide fan base. Non-soccer fans are becoming fans, or at least spectators, in the United States.”
Conversely, players who highlighted the “negative” elements felt that it distracted viewers from the game.
“I feel like she’s getting unnecessary coverage,” said one player who voted for the “negative” side. “There was the entire NFL inaugural season video on Twitter and she was featured five times, but our quarterback wasn't. That's not even correct. It’s not the NFL.”
FOOTBALL IS BACK THIS WEEK 🏈 🚨 pic.twitter.com/YVR8kbZnfm
– NFL (@NFL) September 2, 2024
Another player who voted “negative” said this was because, in his opinion, “a lot of people talk about it more than the football game in progress.”
Others viewed Swift's presence on the games as each positive and negative.
“It brings more attention to the game,” said one player, “but I feel like they used her face.” When she's at a game, they probably show it to her six, seven times. People get…bored in the event that they do it over and once again. So I believe they need to seek out a balance.”
“It’s positive and negative,” one other player said. “The reason I say that is because it's great the influence she has on the younger female generation and getting them to learn about the sport. …The negative is all the true football fans who are tired of watching it. We're happy that it increases engagement, but if I'm a Chiefs fan, I don't try to watch Taylor Swift at every commercial break or every timeout. We know she’s there.”
Like some fans, other players didn't care, with one saying: “I'll jam to a Taylor Swift, but I don't give a fuck whether she's at the game or not.”
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image credit : www.nytimes.com