Taylor Swift has become a polarizing figure for many NFL fans.
Some want to see more of her during NFL games. Others would be happy to never see another camera shot of her in a suite cheering on her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs.
She’s been credited with boosting NFL TV ratings, while some conspiracy-minded fans have complained that her star power has even influenced the league’s schedule makers.
The NFL’s broadcast partners walk a fine line any time Swift attends a game. Some fans, many of them new to the sport, have tuned in to see her, while others would prefer to keep the action focused on the game.
NBC Sports play-by-play broadcaster Mike Tirico weighed in on the matter in a wide-ranging interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Tirico said it’s been “great to have fans who otherwise wouldn’t be sampling the NFL watching,” but at the same time, you don’t want to overdo it with the Swift coverage.
“I think Taylor has been at every Chiefs game that we’ve done since this whole Travis-and-Taylor thing went public,” Tirico said. “So, we’ve seen it. America has seen it. If she’s there, she’ll certainly create a little bit of a buzz. The key is, kind of show her there, but it’s not anything brand new, so it doesn’t get in the way of the game.
“A couple of shots of her in the stands, at key and proper moments has become kind of part of the norm with covering the Chiefs because she’s as big a star as there is in the global entertainment world. So, it makes sense. Then you just kind of go back to the play. It should never take away from football. I think in all of the games we’ve covered, it hasn’t taken away from anything in terms of showing replays or explaining what’s going on in the field.”
While you can find random memes on X criticizing Tirico for talking too much about Swift during games, he showed during the Chiefs playoff game against the Miami Dolphins in January he’s not paying that much attention to her. Tirico said during the game he’d noticed many fans taking photos in his direction, and he assumed they were taking photos of analyst Jason Garrett. Turns out they were taking photos of Swift, situated in the suite beneath the broadcast booth.
It took Mike Tirico until the fourth quarter to realize that Taylor Swift was located in a suite underneath the broadcast booth. pic.twitter.com/bj0wS4iTsv
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 14, 2024
There’s no way NBC could, or should, ignore the fact that arguably the world’s biggest entertainment star is at a game, and cheering like a die-hard fan. Tirico said broadcasters should show her … in moderation, of course.
“So, as I think we’ve established over the last year, that this has been part of the story,” Tirico said. “Great to have fans who otherwise wouldn’t be sampling the NFL watching because if they come to watch, they see a great game and a great entertainment product in its own right. We’re there to document what’s going on and make that part of the story as well.”
[AJC.com]
