You need to calm down: Taylor Swift isn’t ‘ruining football’ by attending NFL games

It’s been months since Taylor Swift first showed up at the Chief’s Kansas City NFL game to watch her then-rumoured boyfriend, Travis Kelce, play. And hostility towards the singer has only grown amongst football fans the more she’s appeared in stadiums. To the extend where, when she stepped out at the Buffalo Bills’ stadium, she was booed by the crowd throughout the arena.

Disgruntlement has been rumbling amongst NFL fans since Taylor headed to New York to see Travis take on the Jets alongside her A-list friend group: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Hugh Jackman, Sophie Turner and Sabrina Carpenter:

“IS EVERYBODY ELSE GETTING SICK & TIRED OF THIS NARCISSIST JOKE AT FOOTBALL GAMES, SHE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT?” one Tweet screamed during the live broadcast. “I bet you ANY money Taylor Swift doesn’t understand football,” added another. “Taylor Swift is ruining football,” claimed hoards more. 

Fundamentally, we have no idea whether Taylor Swift knows anything about football or not. Although, her fans have pointed towards her annual 4 July BBQ to suggest that she does. But, either way, that’s not really the point. A woman doesn’t need to prove intricate sports knowledge just to be in the stands and enjoy a game with the rest of the crowd. If she knows nothing, she’ll learn— it’s doesn’t have to be this deep.

Male-heavy sports have long been this exclusive. Often, if a girl expresses her interest in football, the immediate response will be an extensive quiz to prove your dedication – if you fail to answer any part of the interrogation, you’re a “fake fan”. Men rarely go through the same vetting process. It’s intimidating and boring.

Thankfully, the NFL themselves have gotten super on board with this new exposure. Of course. Because everything Taylor touches turns to gold dust: Her Eras tour literally boosted the US economy. This is great for the league, the players within it and the new fans she’s made feel interested and comfortable enough to watch.

“We frequently change our bios and profile imagery based on what’s happening in and around our games, as well as culturally,” the NFL wrote in a statement on Wednesday. “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.

“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.”

Taylor Swift isn’t ruining football— She’s actually made it more inclusive. And if a few shots of one of the worlds biggest super stars in the stands is ruining your enjoyment of an entire football game then, well, you probably didn’t like it that much to begin with.

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• Taylor Swift is so important you can study her at these six universities 

• We got ChatGPT to write Taylor Swift song lyrics and honestly, I can see this as her next single

Featured image credit via on Robichaud/UPI/Shutterstock