Following Travis Kelce’s controversial award win—likely due to his friendship with Taylor Swift—his other NFL players have expressed their thoughts.
Swift, a pop sensation, and tight end Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs are perhaps the most well-known couple in the United States; some publications from abroad have even referred to them as “America’s own royal couple.”
Swift somehow managed to fit it into her schedule during the historic Eras tour, which allegedly brought in over $2 billion (£1.6 billion) in ticket sales alone, and has been seen cheering on her partner at several Chiefs games this season.
Kelce is obviously benefiting from her influence in the NFL.
With 252,200 votes, he finished the most recent Pro Bowl voting of any player.
Despite setting career lows (for the season) in receiving yardage (825), yards per reception (8.5), and receiving touchdowns (3), Kelce topped fan voting, indicating that the “Swifties” may have influenced the public’s choice.
However, his fellow NFL players seem largely supportive of his relationship with Swift, not envious of his award.
In a recent anonymous survey by The Athletic, 102 NFL players expressed that they thought Swift’s attendance at games and the “coverage that stemmed from it” was good.
Twenty-three players were’somewhere in the middle’ on the issue, with only five considering the singer’s presence a bad thing for the NFL.
“I think it’s been positive for the league,” one unnamed player said.
“I think that at the end of the day, it’s a business and you need to get as many eyes on it as possible. And she brings a lot of eyes, so, you know, if that increases the salary cap, I don’t think anybody’s gonna be too mad about that one.”
Others, on the other hand, thought that Swift’s coverage was a needless diversion for one of the world’s largest sports leagues.
“I feel like she is getting unnecessary coverage,” another player said.
“There was the whole NFL opening season video on Twitter and she was featured five times and our quarterback was featured none. That’s not even right. She is not the NFL.”
Another player viewed Swift’s presence at games as both positive and negative.
“It’s bringing more attention to the game,” he said.
“But I feel like they’ve been using her face. If she’s at a game, they probably show her like six, seven times. People get… sick of it if they keep doing it over and over again. So I think they’ve got to find a balance.”
Meanwhile, one player simply wasn’t bothered either way.
“I’ll jam to some Taylor Swift, but I don’t give a s*** if she’s at the game or not,” he said.
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