Hard to watch: Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez follow the action during the Kansas City Chiefs’ recent loss to the Houston Texans (Photo: Digital Music News)
The NFL is now taking a pause from the ultra-lucrative ‘Taylor Swift Effect,’ with the Kansas City Chiefs shockingly eliminated from postseason play for the first time since 2014.
Sports fans are used to meteoric rises and catastrophic plunges, though the collapse of the Kansas City Chiefs is particularly stunning. After three consecutive Super Bowl appearances and high expectations for another, the Chiefs were officially eliminated from the 2025 NFL playoffs following a grueling 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
The defeat not only ends a dynastic run that saw the team claim multiple AFC Championships and Super Bowls. Closer to the music industry, it also pauses a highly profitable spectacle driven by the relationship between star tight end Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.
But how many millions will now be lost by Swift, the NFL, Kelce, and others like the Chiefs?
The answer to that question comes from some number-crunching around the “Taylor Swift Effect,” a seemingly organic marketing phenomenon that would likely be impossible to replicate with traditional advertising. Just canvassing a few estimates and data points, the upside generated by Swift’s highly visible support for Kelce at games, the pair’s engagement, and the constant media attention has been staggering on multiple levels.
Just one example: Apex Marketing Group recently estimated that Swift’s presence at games and interest in professional football generated over $331.5 million in ‘equivalent brand value’ for the Chiefs and the NFL during her first few months of attendance alone. That estimate ultimately reached $1 billion.
Starting with the ratings, Swift’s appearances have been directly linked to big spikes in NFL viewership, with a younger and predominantly female demographic suddenly interested in games beyond the Super Bowl.
For example, Swift attended a Chiefs game against the Jets in 2023, which resulted in an increase of over 2 million female viewers, with overall viewership among teenage girls jumping by 53%. Wisely, the NFL jumped into action following these spikes with a full-blown social media focus and prominent broadcast pans of Swift (which, of course, everyone just loves).
The big money train went well beyond ratings, however. For example, Travis Kelce’s jersey sales skyrocketed by nearly 400% after Swift’s first game appearance, and Kelce subsequently ranked among the top jersey sellers among all NFL players.
Of course, this partnership worked both ways.
Thanks to Swift’s selection of a high-profile player on a high-profile team, Taylor enjoyed unprecedented levels of prime-time coverage on major networks during games (and outside of games). Maybe you can buy this level of publicity, but the price tag would be astronomical.
But without high-profile games and postseason play, the wattage significantly dims on this music-meets-sports power-romance.
And all that backlash? The NFL, major broadcasters, and ostensibly Swift herself dialed back the constant blitz of in-game cheering and broadcast panning. Fairly or not, Chiefs fans have started blaming Swift for the Chiefs’ collapse, and core football fans could resent the shift away from the game itself.
But maybe these are great problems to manage: in simple business parlance, this unprecedented union of sports and pop culture has been a lucrative ‘win-win’. But as the ‘Swift Effect’ slows down, what’s the NFL’s next move?
The biggest question for the NFL and its partners is whether the enormous cultural and financial boost from the “Taylor Swift Effect” can be replicated — or simply maintained.
The league has seen high-profile pairings before, such as singer Ciara and Russell Wilson, and recent spark-ups like Hailee Steinfeld and Josh Allen. But with Swift+Kelce potentially fading, the NFL now faces the challenge of permanently onboarding the new audience they’ve gained.
Will the younger female demo stick around without that Taylor sizzle? Maybe it’s time for the NFL to tee up its next ‘It’ couple.
