The NFL Doesn’t Care That Travis Kelce Thinks Their Taylor Swift Coverage Is Excessive

Travis Kelce nfl coverage Travis Kelce nfl coverage.jpg - Credit: Dustin Satloff/Getty Images
Travis Kelce nfl coverage Travis Kelce nfl coverage.jpg - Credit: Dustin Satloff/Getty Images

Sunday Night Football hasn’t been the same since Taylor Swift popped into the Kansas City Chiefs’ family and friends box two weekends ago amid rumors that she’s dating tight end Travis Kelce. And anyone who thought the festivities of Swifties explaining football to unfamiliar fans and puns about the singer eating chicken tenders with seemingly ranch would die down after a few days were sorely mistaken — and that include Kelce himself.

During a recent episode of New Heights, the podcast Kelce hosts with his brother, Jason Kelce, the player admitted that the National Football League has been taking their coverage of Swift attending the team’s games a bit far. It was evident during her first appearance at their home game against the Chicago Bears, but even more so when she also pulled up to their away game against the New York Jets.

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“I think it’s fun when they show who all is at the game,” Kelce answered when Jason asked for his honest opinion on the coverage, separate from his feelings towards Swift. “I think it brings a little bit more to the atmosphere, brings a little bit more to what you’re watching. But at the same time, they’re overdoing it a little bit for sure… especially my situation. I think they’re trying to have fun with it.”

Not mentioning Swift directly, Jason alluded to the fact that the NFL isn’t used to handling stars of her magnitude during their games for longer than the duration of a halftime show. “The NFL is not used to celebrities coming to the games,” he added. “Basketball has it figured out… [celebrities are] court side, they show them once or twice and then they get back to the game. The NFL is like, ‘Look at all these A-list celebrities at the game! Show them! Show them!’ Dude, show them once and get a little clip, but you can’t be overboard with it.”

Still, it’s mostly a win-win for everyone involved, at least on the business side. Within 24 hours of Swift’s appearance at the first game, a spokesperson for the NFL’s official e-commerce partner, Fanatics, reported: “Travis Kelce was one of the top five selling NFL players and saw a nearly 400% spike in sales throughout the Fanatics network of sites, including NFLShop.com.”

The NFL issued a statement, via People, responding to Kelce’s comments that echo this in some ways. “We frequently change our bios and profile imagery based on what’s happening in and around our games, as well as culturally,” the statement read. “The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce news has been a pop cultural moment we’ve leaned into in real time, as it’s an intersection of sport and entertainment, and we’ve seen an incredible amount of positivity around the sport.”

Plus, they don’t think they’ve gone overboard in cutting to Swift when Kelce scores a touchdown, or during other high-energy moments during the game. It’s all in service of the sport itself, according to the league. Their statement continued: “The vast majority of our content has remained focused on the game, our players and variety of other initiatives, including our Toy Story Funday Football alt-cast, the international games and more.”

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