The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game. The final score was 17-10 in an anticlimactic game that ended on a failed on-side kick. Taylor Swift seemed pretty happy with the result as those who were tuned into the game saw her celebrating the Chiefs for the hundredth time this season.
The Chiefs have opened as minor underdogs to win the Super Bowl (+1.0 bet365). At this time of year, two weeks seems like a long time between football games. However, at least Taylor Swift is up for some Grammy awards next week, the week before Super Bowl LVIII is played.
That's exactly what football fans need to kill the time, right?
Yeah. Right.
I have some thoughts on all this that I just can't help but share.
NFL Marketing to Women? Obviously.
Why is the NFL coverage showing Taylor Swift to football fans so much?
If you pay attention to social media, it's clear that bona fide NFL fans are not entirely happy about the amount of attention she receives. I wouldn't say that they are as upset as fans were when there was all that kneeling during the national anthem drama a few years back. However, I think a huge part of bona fide football fans don't want Taylor Swift mixed in with football any more than they wanted Colin Kaepernick's politics mixed in.
What does bona fide mean? A simple definition is "genuine" or "real." Therein lies the reason why the NFL is choosing to show us Taylor Swift. They are simply trying to tap into her fanbase -- which I presume is mainly made up of women. The bona fide fan base is probably too difficult to grow so the NFL wants to benefit from some deflection from Taylor Swift's pop music career to get some superficial fans.
Sports Leagues Struggle to Grow a Female Fanbase
It's males who generally support sports leagues. If any professional sports league wants to grow its fanbase, then they have to find a way to get women to watch. What I am saying is that Taylor Swift is going to the Super Bowl and I'm sure that the NFL is hoping that she takes the eyeballs of tens of millions of women with her. It's all a planned marketing campaign.
It was like back in the day when all the NFL players were wearing pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. Yes, that's a terrible disease that I hope we find a cure for someday. But of all the terrible diseases out there, why did the NFL pick that one to endorse?
It dawned on me one day in the past that they were trying to appeal to women to grow their fan base because they've maxed out the male fans. Supporting research or least awareness for a disease that largely affects women was an invitation. Taylor Swift going to Super Bowl LVIII, in some ways, is a rewrite of the same marketing program.
Sick of Taylor Swift?
If I sound critical, that's a total misread. The NFL can do whatever they want to when it comes to marketing its product. But "I'm sick of Taylor Swift" has plenty of X (formerly Twitter) hits. Is the NFL growing among pop-music-loving women but alienating the bona fide fan base? Probably not to any significant degree -- but it is possible.
Taylor Swift and Her Grammy Nominations
Of course, this all works in reverse. Before the current season, I had heard of Taylor Swift before but I would not have been able to name a single song of hers. Nor would I have been able to pick her out of a lineup except for by a lucky guess. I now know her a little too well.
She is up for Album of the Year at the upcoming Grammy's, priced at -225 (bet365) to win for something called "Midnights." I guess that is plural for more than one midnight.
She is also up for Record of the Year, where she is favored but only at +162 for something called "Anti-Hero." This song or record or whatever is also -120 for Song of the Year.
You could say that it is now thirteen more "Midnights" to the Super Bowl. You could also say that whoever tackles Travis Kelce in said Super Bowl is an Anti-Hero.
But that will depend on perspective: one person's Anti-Hero is another person's freedom fighter. Said tackler would be an Anti-Hero from those who equate the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl with Taylor Swift winning the Super Bowl. However, for those who type in "I'm sick of Taylor Swift" into their tweets, maybe the said tackler would be anything but an Anti-hero. We'll see what the ratings are for the Grammys and Super Bowl LVIII in February,
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