New York Giants fans erupted in boos when Taylor Swift’s image was streamed into MetLife Stadium last night to promote the singer’s upcoming concert film about her hugely successful Eras tour.
Just 24 hours earlier, Swift was at the Meadowlands to watch her rookie Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs march to victory over the New York Jets.
The NFL appears to be taking advantage of Swift’s presence at games, as about 27 million people watched the Chiefs’ game on Sunday, and the league briefly updated its Instagram account with a post stating, “The Chiefs are 2-0 as Swifties.’ The post was deleted a few hours later after receiving hundreds of negative comments from fans.
The ratings for Sunday’s game were the largest audience in the league since the Super Bowl. During the game, NBC cameras frequently cut to Swift to get her reactions on various plays.
NFL fans have condemned Swift’s football “takeover,” with some saying the singer’s continued cuts in coverage are “destroying football.”
Furious NFL fans have criticized the fanfare surrounding Taylor Swift (pictured with Ryan Reynolds) and her rumored boyfriend Travis Kelce after NBC spoke to the singer 17 different times during Sunday night’s broadcast of the Jets-Chiefs game
At least one Giants fan didn’t want to see Taylor Swift’s face on the screen Monday night
Furious NFL fans have criticized the fanfare surrounding Taylor Swift and her rumored boyfriend Travis Kelce after NBC spoke to the singer 17 different times during Sunday night’s broadcast of the Jets-Chiefs game
“In case anyone didn’t hear, Taylor Swift was at the game. And NBC made it really annoying,” award-winning sportswriter Jeff Pearlman wrote on Twitter.
Fox contributor Tomi Lahren wrote, “Taylor Swift’s extensive coverage of this match is annoying AF. I don’t even like football and I agree that it destroys football. Barely enough.’
And the fuss surrounding the singer was not an isolated incident for NBC: Terry Bradshaw, the co-host of Fox NFL Sunday, even gave handmade friendship bracelets from Taylor Swift to his colleagues during the live broadcast. As he handed them out, he said, “You’re part of the Swiftie group now.”
The Chiefs held on for a nail-biting win against the Jets as celebrity friends Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and others joined Swift in her suite at MetLife, according to a news release from the network.
As the Jets pulled within eight points of the Chiefs during the second quarter of Week 4’s thrilling matchup, viewership peaked at an estimated 29.4 million viewers.
The figure amounts to 2.68 million more than the 24.32 million that saw Swift cheer for Kelce and the Chiefs against the Bears for the first time last week.
Across NBC’s digital platforms, including Peacock, the game drew 1.85 million viewers, marking NBC Sports’ largest-ever streaming audience for a regular-season NFL game on Sunday, and a 42 percent increase over the Week 4 game from last year, which faced Patrick Mahomes. against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Swift was caught by NBC’s cameras turning to Blake Lively and saying ‘look at him’
That figure is almost three million more than the 24.32 that saw the Chiefs claim victory over the Bears last week with Swift in the stands at Arrowhead.
Swift’s support of her new boyfriend has also attracted a new audience to the NFL, as Swifties continued to tune in to catch a glimpse of the 12-time Grammy Award winner.
Sunday’s broadcast saw an increase in viewership among women of all age groups, adding more than 2 million female viewers, according to NBC.
A number of die-hard football fans took to social media to criticize NBC for their coverage of MetLife, where the camera regularly cut away to photos of Swift and her A-list friends.
One wrote: ‘Please don’t play Taylor Swift on your TV drinking game… you’re going to be hospitalized if you aren’t already.’
Another added, “These Taylor Swift cutaways during Chiefs games need to go.”
While much of the build-up surrounded Swift’s potential in the stadium, the most angry reaction came after the Chiefs’ first touchdown, when cameras immediately cut to Taylor and her famous friends in their suite.
Since it was Isiah Pacheco who scored the points instead of Kelce, some fans were left seething but insisting that they should have shown the jubilant players on the field.
Swift has so far remained very coy about her romance with the professional footballer, but she was spotted during the match leaning over to her actress friend Lively and whispering ‘look at him’.
As you’d expect, fans went crazy after watching the clip live on NBC, with one person writing on Instagram, “She literally can’t believe she’s with the most popular athlete.”
Meanwhile, another added: “She’s as in love as a kitten.”
It is believed that Swift and Kelce left the stadium separately after the game, with the NFL tight end staying with his teammates and boarding the Chiefs bus.
Taylor, meanwhile, headed to private members club Zero Bond in New York City, where she continued the party into the wee hours.
Next up for Kelce and the Chief is a trip to Minnesota to take on Kirk Cousins.
On Monday, the Seahawks easily defeated the anti-Swift Giants 24-3.