“Taylor Swift ruined the NFL”. I recently overheard a group of guys talk about this as they watched an NFL game. The new celebrity relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce has quickly become the center of pop culture news.
Taylor Swift is a globally recognized pop artist who recently became the first individual to become a billionaire solely based on songs and performances. Travis Kelce is an American football tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. He is considered one of the best tight ends in the NFL and has won two Super Bowls in his career.
Images of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
This relationship has been the center of much controversy. The scrutiny this celebrity couple faces is partly due to the two very different fan bases both individuals bring together. Taylor Swift’s fan base is majority made up of young adult women. While the male NFL fan base is largely made up of men between the ages of 25 and 39.
There is a trend on TikTok of women telling men, “I can’t believe Taylor Swift put Travis Kelce on the map” and recording their reaction. Many of them are taken back and become very defensive. We can instantly see a divide between the two fan bases. I’ll hold my personal opinions but will say Travis Kelce jerseys have seen a 400% increase since the media release of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s potential relationship.
Masculinity and American Football
Many NFL fans have become extremely upset about the coverage Taylor Swift had while attending the Kansas City Chiefs game to watch Travis Kelce. While at the Jets versus Kansas City Chiefs game, Taylor Swift was shown on the TV 17 times. Fans and broadcasters have complained that this is taking away from the game and that the Taylor Swift coverage is inappropriate. Nonetheless, it seems the NFL is trying to capitalize on the media attention it’s gaining with Taylor Swift going to the games. On the NFL TikTok account they posted several tiktoks of Taylor Swift and at one point changed the account description to “9/24/23. Taylor was here”.
NFL TikTok profile description about Taylor Swift
Why are some fans so angry about the NFL’s coverage of Taylor Swift? The games at which Taylor Swift was present dramatically increased viewership. According to NBC Sports, the football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets became the most-watched game since the last Super Bowl. The viewership of female viewers increased by over 2 million. This is a good thing for the NFL. They are gaining attention and popularity so why are fans so upset? Is it because of the demographic of viewers? With the majority of the NFL fan base being men, there seems to be a sort of exclusionary aspect to being a football fan. Women are quizzed on their football knowledge even when they are casually watching a game. There is a double standard with women having to prove they are a “true fan” while men can just enjoy the game.
Apart from the NFL, the sport of football itself has a long history in American culture, especially regarding male masculinity. In traditional American culture, it’s typical for fathers to teach their sons how to play football. This knowledge is passed down through generations of men. This makes it hard for women to learn about the sport. Additionally, what sets football apart from many major sports is that there is no female version. With many popular sports such as basketball, baseball, and soccer there are national women’s teams and several leagues for women. The lack of a women’s version of football amplifies the boys’ club culture football has and makes it hard for young women to have exposure to the sport or feel welcome.
Traditional societal roles in which women are seen as less than men lead to women and feminine interests constantly being scrutinized. James Trainor, a Sports Illustrated media critic, stated that real NFL fans hate the attention Taylor Swift is getting during broadcasts. This makes it seem as though Taylor Swift fans can’t be true NFL fans. This negativity could be rooted in football fans feeling threatened by the demographic of fans Taylor Swift’s coverage brings. This new wave of fans threatens the traditional masculine activity football represents in American culture.
With the teen female viewership in the NFL’s recent football games up 53% this could mean a really exciting change for the NFL fan base and football itself. Recently, there has been a lot of exciting news about the inclusion of women in football. This year Haley Van Voorhis became the first female football player to play a position outside of the kicker, in an NCAA game. Hopefully, this will lead to an upward trend in female involvement in football and a more inclusive American football community.
Gender Roles and Relationship Scrutiny
These misogynistic ideals can also be seen in certain comments made about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s relationship. On the social media platform X, some individuals are stating that Taylor Swift is making Travis Kelce more feminine. For example, many individuals ridicule him for making a friendship bracelet for Taylor Swift. On the extreme, conservatives such as Tomi Lahren speculated that Taylor Swift caused Travis Kelce to star in a vaccine campaign for Pfizer.
Travis Kelce starring in Pfizer campaign to promote vaccination
This pop culture moment provides a unique opportunity to reflect on expected societal gender and sexuality roles in relationships. There has been a lot of discussion about how Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship goes against traditional gender roles. This is due to the power and financial differences in their relationship. Taylor Swift has a net worth of $1.1 billion dollars while Travis Kelce has a net worth of $30 million. Traditional gender roles portray men as the providers and breadwinners. People have shown concern about how Travis Kelce wouldn’t be able to support Taylor’s Swift lifestyle. A Forbes article reported that one of Taylor Swift’s private jets is about two years of Travis Kelce’s salary. The focus on their financial difference says a lot about societal expectations. Would this be such a hot topic or even a conversation if roles were reversed?
With this couple seeming to be from two separate realms of pop culture, it makes fans on both sides wonder whether this is a PR relationship. Taylor Swift has evolved over the course of her music career as a figure of female empowerment. This has created an extremely strong female fan base but she has yet to have a male fan base. From a business perspective, it would be very tactical for Taylor Swift and the NFL to join forces to expand their highly gendered audiences. Regardless of the motive behind their relationship it certainly created a very interesting pop cultural movement. Maybe this exposure could lead to a new wave of middle age football-loving Swifties!
Sources:
- https://www.foxsports.com.au/nfl/felt-like-wayyy-more-fans-bad-blood-with-nfl-over-crazy-swift-coverage-alongside-aussie-star/news-story/a3901e29918df43d03b2dc5755cf5985
- https://newrepublic.com/article/175850/taylor-swift-broken-conservatives-brains
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliecolley/2023/10/27/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-and-the-modern-romance-dilemma/?sh=18499c4f1f62
- https://newrepublic.com/article/175850/taylor-swift-broken-conservatives-brains
- https://theathletic.com/4924355/2023/10/03/nfl-taylor-swift-fans-chiefs/
I think this is a super insightful post and I’ve definitely seen a lot of discussion surrounding the relationship everywhere online. The point about girls being quizzed as sports fans is definitely something I’ve also observed in my everyday life. I recently listened to an interview with the first female caster for the 76ers. In the podcast she mentioned being incredibly meticulous about memorizing everything because she felt like if she messed something up she’d be labeled an outsider to the sport. I’m curious with the case of a sport football, whether the outrage has partially been caused by the fact that being a fan has almost become a performance of gender in of itself.
As a big swiftie myself, I really enjoyed reading this article. I remember this TikTok trend being a thing and it made me laugh because in principle Taylor Swift and football are completely opposite. Generally, men tend to think that Taylor Swift is just for silly little teen girls and women think that football is for men who want to be macho. The intersection of these two ideas seems very scary because it causes them to be exposed to a world that they are not normally exposed to. It is funny because this relationship has parallels to Tom Brady’s marriage to Gisele Bunchden, but it is also very different. Gisele had much more of a global notoriety and had a much higher net worth despite Tom Brady being one of the best and most winning quarterbacks in the league for many many years. However, Gisele’s profession was a model, which sort of goes hand in hand with the expectations of what a football players wife should be. Only when their partner is a very famous singer does the scenario change. I think to some extent the misogynist perception of Taylor that I talked about in my post also impacts this situation.
I really appreciated your insights into the situation, and I hate to be a downer, but I’m going to add more fuel to the fire that is how much some football fans suck. There actually is a football league where women compete, or at least there was at some point. It’s called the “Lingerie Football League” and it is essentially an excuse for people to pay to ogle a bunch of women severely underdressed to play football. I don’t remember when I found out such a thing exists, but I think it definitely reflects the point of view that some football fans still hold towards women. Especially with the ever-increasing popularity of Barstool Sports, I am honestly really concerned that large sections of oncoming generations of football fans will hold an unjustified and extreme resentment towards women.