The Taylor Swift phenomena has deeply permeated the fabric of NFL coverage over the last two and a half weeks. If you tuned into Sunday night's New York Jets-Kansas City Chiefs game, for example, you got at least a dozen shots of Swift in a booth watching her paramour Travis Kelce surrounded by similarly famous individuals. Many feel the league and its broadcast partners have gone a bit overboard leaning into the Swiftie craze and the extent to which they do so has already launched conspiracy theories and accusations of "bad looks."
On Wednesday's episode of the New Heights podcast, Jason Kelce asked his brother Travis about the coverage Swift has been getting during NFL games. The Chiefs tight end said they were going overboard "a little bit" with how often Swift is being shown at football games because, well, people have their TVs on to watch the game. Most people, anyway.
It is a bit confusing that they keep saying the NFL is doing this and that when it is not the league but the broadcasters (NBC and Fox, in this case) who are making the constant pan-to-Swift decisions. But it does not change the nature of the discussion.
The most interesting point in the above conversation is when Jason says the NFL doesn't know how to act when super-famous people go to a game because super-famous people usually don't do that. Unlike in the NBA when megastars are courtside with some regularity. However, I do not agree because the NFL boasts the biggest sporting event of the calendar every year with the Super Bowl. A thing super-famous people love to go to. NBC has broadcast many Super Bowls in its time and managed to not overdo it when attempting to showcase those famous people. They get a pregame shot, maybe a touchdown reaction if it's notable, but otherwise are not mentioned.
It's just Swift. She is at the height of her popularity right now, a megastar with very few peers in the world. The broadcast coverage is certainly overdone but what else could you expect when a star with fans likely numbering in the billions shows up to a freaking Chiefs-Jets Week 4 game?
We may as well get used to it because the NFL isn't going to slow down with this. People are still going to watch the game even if they complain about how many Swift mentions they get between possessions. However, a reprieve is in sight as the singer will embark on her international tour in early November and will presumably be quite busy prepping for it starting very soon. So fear not. The Swift coverage will not last forever.
This article was originally published on thebiglead as Travis Kelce Weighs In on NFL Broadcast Coverage of Taylor Swift .
