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Maybe this season more than ever, women all over America were following the NFL season at unprecedented levels. The always-popular league saw an influx of female fans, partially due to the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship.
Of course, more fans means more money, not just for the league, but for their partners and sponsors, as well. And, it appears that’s trickled over to their gambling partners, as well.
BeMGM is reporting a 51% increase in the number of female bettors wagering on the Super Bowl, with some chalking that up to the Taylor Swift effect.
Super Bowl television ratings were up big-time, as well. Sports Business Journal reported that viewership among women reached an all-time high at 58.8 million viewers. That was a record share of all viewers, at 47.5% Overall, the game had 123.7 million viewers on average, a record.
It’s hard to argue that that isn’t at least in some way caused by Taylor Swift. Ever since the biggest pop star in the world showed up at the Chiefs’ Week 3 game against the Chicago Bears at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, it’s been Swiftmania for the NFL. As her relationship with Travis Kelce kept blossoming, it seemed like a possibility that she could be at Super Bowl LVIII if the Chiefs were to advance that far.
That looked unlikely for a while, as the Chiefs offense sputtered like it never had before in the Reid-Kelce-Mahomes era. A Christmas loss to the Raiders was the low point. It also meant that Kansas City would have to go on the road for the first time in the Reid-Kelce-Mahomes era if they were to continue advancing in the playoffs.
That didn’t stop them, as they won at home against the Dolphins, followed by road wins against Buffalo and Baltimore before beating San Francisco in a thriller, 25-22 (OT), on Sunday.
America got a big dose of the Taylor Swift-NFL crossover, and they sure ate it up.