An unnamed NFL player has claimed that people are “sick” of the fanfare surrounding Taylor Swift’s appearances at Kansas City Chiefs games – but an overwhelming proportion of his peers were in disagreement with the star.
The pop songstress was a regular attendee at Arrowhead Stadium to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce in action throughout last season. With the pair having effectively gone public with their romance when Swift appeared in the crowd to cheer the tight end on last September, their relationship has blossomed from that point on.
Since then, the “Anti Hero” hitmaker was present as her love won the Super Bowl for the third time in his career in Las Vegas back in February. The chart-topper also has been in her usual spot on the sidelines this season too – watching on during the Chiefs’ clash against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2.
Her relationship with Kelce has been credited with inadvertently bringing the sport to a new audience in the form of her dedicated army of fans too – such is the intrigue surrounding the couple. However, not every NFL star appears to be convinced that Swift’s impact has been all positive.
According to the Athletic, one unnamed football player said of her presence: “It’s bringing more attention to the game. 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.
“It’s a positive and negative. The reason I say that is it’s great the impact she’s making on the younger female generation and getting them to learn about the sport. … The negative is all the true football fans who are tired of seeing it.”
Follow us on Xfor the best and latest in sports news
NFL stars have weighed up the impact of Taylor Swift on the popularity of the sport in an eye-opening poll ( Image:
David Eulitt/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, another naysayer added: “I feel like she is getting unnecessary coverage. 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.”
Still, their take on the subject appeared to put the disgruntled player in a minority, with 72.5 percent of those polled as part of the report seeing Swift’s impact as positive. In fact, only 4.9 percent of the players asked saw the singer’s influence as a negative, with 22.5 percent neutral on the subject.
By contrast, one of Swift’s advocates said of the star: “I think it’s been positive for the league. 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.”