Taylor Swift has drawn tons of commentary from NFL followers — together with each reward and ire — since she started courting Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce final yr and have become a fixture within the stands. However followers aren’t the one ones with opinions on Swift’s presence at video games.
The overwhelming majority of gamers included in The Athletic’s 2024 nameless NFL participant ballot — 72.5 p.c to be actual — mentioned they considered the pop star’s curiosity within the recreation (and the protection that stemmed from it) as constructive for the league. Solely 4.9 p.c of gamers polled considered it as a destructive, and 22.5 p.c considered it as neither destructive nor constructive.
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The Swift-NFL partnership was one of many many topics The Athletic’s beat writers surveyed gamers about to incorporate on this yr’s ballot, with 102 votes solid on the subject. Gamers had been granted anonymity to talk freely about issues impacting the league.
“I feel it’s been constructive for the league,” one participant mentioned. “I feel that on the finish of the day, it’s a enterprise and it is advisable get as many eyes on it as doable. And she or he brings numerous eyes, so, , if that will increase the wage cap, I don’t suppose anyone’s gonna be too mad about that one.”
One other participant who voted “constructive” famous that “numerous Swifties who don’t watch soccer at the moment are watching it.”
“Bringing extra individuals to the sport of soccer is all the time good,” that participant mentioned.
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“Extra followers, broader horizon,” mentioned one other participant within the “constructive” vote camp. “She has a worldwide fan base. Non-football followers will develop into followers or a minimum of viewers in the US.”
Conversely, gamers who highlighted the “destructive” parts urged it distracted viewers from the game.
“I really feel like she is getting pointless protection,” mentioned one participant who voted for the “destructive” aspect. “There was the entire NFL opening season video on Twitter and he or she was featured 5 occasions and our quarterback was featured none. That’s not even proper. She isn’t the NFL.”
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One other participant who voted “destructive” mentioned it was as a result of he felt like “lots of people are speaking extra about that than the soccer recreation happening.”
Others considered Swift’s presence on the video games as each constructive and destructive.
“It’s bringing extra consideration to the sport,” one participant mentioned, “however I really feel like they’ve been utilizing her face. If she’s at a recreation, they most likely present her like six, seven occasions. Individuals get … sick of it in the event that they preserve doing it again and again. So I feel they’ve obtained to discover a steadiness.”
“It’s a constructive and destructive,” mentioned one other participant. “The explanation I say that’s it’s nice the affect she’s making on the youthful feminine era and getting them to study in regards to the sport. … The destructive is all of the true soccer followers who’re uninterested in seeing it. We’re glad it’s elevating engagement, but when I’m a Chiefs fan, I’m not attempting to see Taylor Swift each industrial break or each timeout. We all know she’s there.”
Like some followers, different gamers didn’t care, with one saying, “I’ll jam to some Taylor Swift, however I don’t give a s— if she’s on the recreation or not.”
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(Picture: Jamie Squire / Getty Photographs)