With the NFL still figuring out how to maximize Taylor Swift’s newfound football fandom, Pat McAfee believes Amazon got it right.
After missing Travis Kelce’s game last week, Swift was back in attendance Thursday night for the Kansas City Chiefs matchup against the Denver Broncos. With Fox and NBC having already capitalized on the NFL’s unexpected influx of Swift-mania in recent weeks, Thursday night was Amazon’s turn at the spectacle with the game being broadcast by Prime Video. And while Swift still received prominent camera time, some fans felt Prime Video was more intent on sticking to sports.
It feels like Amazon got it right last night..
It was a football game that one of the biggest stars in the history of earth was at #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/CVmpDaGbTA
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 13, 2023
“There wasn’t that much Taylor Swift on TV last night,” McAfee said. “Which I think everybody was super pumped up about.”
“The reality of the situation is this, Travis and Taylor are in love,” McAfee continued. “Brittany Mahomes and Patrick Mahomes are in love. So when Patrick and Travis do something spectacular, they’d be doing the world a disservice if they didn’t show Taylor and Brittany celebrate it. But I think they moderated it. As opposed to watching a Taylor Swift watching a football game game, it was a football game that one of the biggest stars in the history of earth was at. And I think they got it right, honestly. I think Amazon got it right.”
There has long been this assumption that nothing can outshine the NFL, and while that mostly remains true, Taylor Swift sort of humbled the sport in recent weeks. Instead of someone seeming desperate to get a piece of the NFL, it was the NFL seeming desperate for a piece of Taylor Swift and her massive following of Swifties.
Prior to the game, Prime Video play-by-play voice Al Michaels promised Amazon would look to satisfy the audience tuning in to watch a football game, by making sure the actual game remained the broadcast’s most important element. We haven’t tallied Swift’s face time in her three NFL appearances this season, but it seemed like she still received ample attention during Prime Video’s Thursday night broadcast. Maybe Swifties weren’t left totally satisfied, but at least Pat McAfee was.
