Taylor Swift reacts during the game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on December 10, 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri. Jamie Squire/Getty Images/AFP
In a year in which Lionel Messi took US football by storm, it would have taken an even bigger celebrity to move the needle in American football. Taylor Swift delivered.
The superstar’s presence at Kansas City Chiefs games this season has "activated a whole new viewership audience for us specifically, which is young women age nine to 17,” said Dan Hunt, whose family owns the team.
"Obviously, the economic impact is unbelievable but the social impact, I think, will be measured over a long period of time,” Hunt told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday. "These are building lifelong fans for the NFL.”
Swift has been a fixture at Chiefs games since she started her relationship with all-pro tight end Travis Kelce, bringing a new level of celebrity to the team’s Arrowhead Stadium even as she sold out a global concert tour so successful that it’s credited with giving the US economy a boost. She also released the highest-grossing concert movie of all time, which has been nominated for a Golden Globe.
Hunt is in a position to appreciate the global superstar effect: Messi’s arrival at Inter Miami CF has helped boost interest in all Major League Soccer teams, including FC Dallas, where Hunt serves as president.
He was in New York City for the football league’s board meeting. He’s also chairman of Dallas’s host city efforts for the World Cup.
