As a loyal Steelers fan and, naturally, an avid hater of the Ravens, I was prepared to cheer on Kansas City in their Conference Championship versus the Ravens with confidence that my friends and family from Pittsburgh would be by my side, supporting the Chiefs with me. As game day approached, however, I started to notice that almost everyone I knew, from the boys I went to high school with to my little brother, was reposting and liking posts on Instagram in support of Baltimore. It made no sense to me, considering that these were all die-hard Steelers fans and that hating the Ravens is one of the pillars of Steelers culture itself. So what inspired all of these Ravens-haters to turn their backs on the bitter rivalry and root against the Chiefs instead? You guessed it: Taylor Swift.
In the midst of Swift’s record-breaking world tour, which boosts the economy of every country she visits, and her successful releases of both Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) within four months of each other, she also, as I’m sure you’re aware, began dating Chief’s tight end, Travis Kelce. Despite her recognition as Time magazine’s Person of the Year and her newly achieved status as a billionaire, a disproportionate amount of the attention she receives has been centered around her new relationship, lauding the couple as America’s Sweethearts and zealously analyzing every outfit she wears to his games. Every word he utters in reference to her and every expression that flashes across her face as she watches him from the stands is plastered on TVs and flooded all over social media.
The NFL has been the vanguard of this campaign to brand Swift as face of American football, posting about her incessantly and even going as far as to change their header on Twitter to a picture of her at one of Kelce’s games. While this media attention was game-changing for the NFL, resulting in a nearly 400% rise in Travis Kelce jersey sales and attracting a brand new audience of young, female, and international Swifties, it also created a new angle for scrutiny against Swift. Suddenly, the “Dads, Brads, and Chads” of football, as Swift referred to them, were also being bombarded with unsolicited Swift content, and of course, despite the fact that she actually had no part in the constant commercialization of her relationship, she was assigned the blame entirely for the disruption of their idea of what football should be.
Approaching this Championship game, the hatred towards Taylor Swift was immeasurable. The only other excuse people could think of for rooting against the Chief’s was the paltry “they always win,” but most people didn’t hesitate to declare that she was the reason they were supporting the Ravens. While the media attention undeniably got excessive and annoying, for me as well, I can’t help but propose that the true reason these men were angry wasn’t because a singer was being venerated by their favorite commentators and the NFL; it was because that singer was a woman.
Ever since Swift attended her first Chiefs’ game in September, the audience of American football has slowly begun growing, including more girls and women than ever. Chauvinistic fans have been plagued by footage of a woman enjoying their favorite sport while screaming and cheering in a way that is painfully overdramatic and unacceptable (except when Jason Kelce rips his shirt off in celebration of the same play). With even the mention of Swift, Kelce, or the Chiefs, complaints begin about how unreasonably long Swift is shown on screen during each game (an excruciating total of 25 seconds, on average).
The reality is that women are starting to discover yet another space that has been male-dominated since its creation, and defensive football fans see this broadening of horizons as an invasion. Swift, at the forefront of this movement, is in turn mocked and ridiculed for simply attending her boyfriend’s games and cheering him on. If anyone is to blame for the interruptions, it’s the NFL, which has earned a whopping $331.5 million off of its exploitation of Swift’s image, name, and relationship. The only thing Taylor Swift has done wrong is be impactful enough to generate so much money for the NFL that they’d do everything in their power to be associated with her. Her influence is strong enough to reguide the loyalty of millions of football fans who changed the team they were supporting simply because of her, raising the question of which one they care about more: loving football or ridiculing a woman who doesn’t know they exist. Hopefully, one day, all of the Dads, Brads, and Chads will be able to enjoy their football game despite knowing that there are women out there, watching the same game as them.
This is so true. A lot of people have been talking about how they are “sick of seeing Taylor Swift broadcasted everywhere during football games”. I personally see it as unfair, as if it was a man shown all over the screen, I’m sure there would be less complaints. There are so many double standards for women, it is very discouraging. Hopefully we can see a day where men can accept that women may have the same interests as them, and that is okay. I mean, Taylor Swift is just supporting her boyfriend, just like any other girlfriend would.
All across social media I have seen this exact same thing. It is so bizarre to me how angry men were getting at the fact Taylor Swift was getting cameras panned no her at football games. I truly just didn’t think it was “that deep” yet social media comments were flooded with hate for Taylor Swift and outrage. As a girl, it is very easy to see it is because of her identity and close relationship with a majority female audience. This rejection of her is a community feeling as if they’re being invaded by something lesser, which is just rooted in casual misogyny. This was a great post!
During these past few weeks I have also seen a lot of commentary on Taylor Swift throughout these games. I agree that including her into this space increases the fan base in a male dominated area. I also feel as though Taylor Swift herself isn’t the problem here and is being portrayed as though she is when in reality it is the media. At these games what I see is a woman being supportive of her loved ones and because she is in the spotlight she receives backlash.