The ‘Brads, Chads and dads’ may have taken issue with Taylor Swift gracing the stands of NFL stadiums last year but the league’s own players aren’t in agreement. The pop superstar dominated headlines last season when she swapped her sequined bodysuits for the Chiefs’ red and gold to cheer on tight end boyfriend Travis Kelce at several games throughout Kansas City’s run to the Super Bowl.
The three-second glimpses of the songstress on the big screen and network coverage enraged some of the NFL fanbase, while others couldn’t get enough of her in VIP suites.
Her high-profile arrival at games even attracted a whole new demographic to the league’s fanbase but how do the players themselves feel about the new spotlight on the sport? Apparently, extremely positively. 72.5 percent of 102 players polled by The Athletic said the ‘Fortnight’ singer and the coverage sparked by her presence was positive for the NFL.
Just five felt her inclusion in the sport was negative, while 23 straddled the fence, claiming it was ‘somewhere in the middle.’
‘I think it’s been positive for the league,’ one player told the outlet. ‘I think that at the end of the day, it’s a business and you need to get as many eyes on it as possible. And she brings a lot of eyes, so, you know, if that increases the salary cap, I don’t think anybody’s gonna be too mad about that one.’
Another admitted Swift’s presence had both its pros and its cons, claiming the added attention was a bonus but was perhaps being overdone. ‘It’s bringing more attention to the game,’ he said, ‘but I feel like they’ve been using her face. If she’s at a game, they probably show her like six, seven times.
‘People get … sick of it if they keep doing it over and over again. So I think they’ve got to find a balance.’
However, another, presumably one of the five naysayers, slammed the coverage, insisting it was getting over the top.
‘I feel like she is getting unnecessary coverage,’ the player said. ‘There was the whole NFL opening season video on Twitter and she was featured five times and our quarterback was featured none. That’s not even right. She is not the NFL.’
Meanwhile, her boyfriend Kelce was also the topic of debate with the three-time Super Bowl winner being named among one of the most annoying players in the NFL by his fellow peers.
