The Kansas City Chiefs’ attempt at a Hallmark movie paid off when the production, inspired by Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s romance, drew high numbers in its TV debut.
At the height of the Kelce-Swift relationship, the Hallmark movie “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” was released starring Hunter King and Tyler Hynes.
The film debuted on television on Saturday evening and attracted a large audience.
According to Programming Insider, the film opened to a whopping 2.88 million viewers upon its initial broadcast.
It would be second only to the Texas-Texas A&M game on ABC (9.46 million viewers) for the most-watched program on cable TV that night.
The romantic fiction had an edge over five other college football games in the primetime window. Holiday Touchdown attracted more attention then
2.88 million viewers watched the first television broadcast of a Kansas City Chiefs Hallmark movie
‘Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story’ was inspired by Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift
Washington-Oregon on NBC (2.57 million viewers), Oklahoma-LSU on ESPN (2.09 million viewers), Kansas State-Iowa State on Fox (2.01 million viewers), Florida-Florida State on ESPN2 (1, 38 million viewers) and Purdue-Indiana on FS1 (717,000 viewers).
Although the film is reportedly inspired by Kelce and Swift, it is not based on their love story.
The story revolves around protagonists Alana, a Chiefs super fan, and Derrick, the fictional franchise director of Fan Engagement.
Holiday Touchdown came after the Chiefs’ brief “Falling for Football” production in January during the postseason.
Hynes also starred in the previous film with Pretty Little Liars star Janel Parrish.
The star-studded cast also included Donna Kelce, hip-hop artist Tech N9ne, Chiefs players Trey Smith and Tommy Townsend, and former Kansas City star Dante Hall.