Kansas City Chiefs president Mark Donovan on how the organization juggles Taylor Swift’s popularity and her privacy when she arrives to watch Travis Kelce.
The back-to-back Super Bowl champions are welcoming global pop star Taylor Swift with open arms, but there’s a catch.
Swift, of course, was a major storyline for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023. From a budding romance with tight end Travis Kelce, game day appearances that racked up millions of views for the NFL and celebrating a historic back-to-back championship run with the organization, Swift has become part of Chiefs royalty.
That being said, there’s also a fine line between not wanting to infringe on Swift’s privacy.
In an interview with Front Office Sports, Chiefs president Mark Donovan shared that the organization will continue to protect Swift in a number of ways.
For starters, Donovan told FOS why they chose not to play any of Swift’s music at Arrowhead Stadium in 2023.
“Last season, in Arrowhead Stadium, we didn’t play a single Taylor Swift song during our games. And that was a sign of respect. We’re not trying to capitalize on this. We’re trying to celebrate it, but it’s not about doing too much or showing her every touchdown or anything like that,” Donovan said.
Donovan also added that Swift hasn’t made an appearance on the stadium’s jumbotron, which may come as a surprise to some fans watching games on TV.
During the 2023 season, Swift attended 13 Chiefs games, which drew an average of 17.9 million viewers. That figure represents the NFL’s highest ratings since 2015. Whenever Swift cheered for the Chiefs, cameras zeroed in on her. While fans felt Swift was taking over the game’s airtime, she was only shown a total of 22 seconds the entire season.
Donovan recalled a time when there was multiple celebrities in attendance who were featured on the jumbotron in an effort to show that Arrowhead Stadium’s “the place to be” and where the “coolest people in entertainment” visit.
After that game, Donovan asked Kelce if it was weird that they didn’t show off Swift on the jumbotron, but Kelce reassured him to keep doing it this way.
Now, while the Chiefs are handling the “Taylor Swift Effect” with a “normal day in the office” attitude, the NFL has gone all-in on the revenue Swift brings. From social media posts to being featured in the hype video for the 2024 season, don’t expect the league to take the cameras off her anytime soon.
But if you are interested on when Swift will make her next appearance it will be on Sunday Sep. 15 when the Chiefs take on the Cincinnati Bengals.