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Taylor Swift has been an integral part of Chiefs Kingdom since she stepped out publicly with Kansas City’s famed tight end Travis Kelce in fall 2023. And now the team’s owner, Clark Hunt, has spoken out about how the “Taylor Swift effect” has affected the team.
“Indirectly, the NFL has seen an impact,” said Hunt — who is the son of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt — to the CNBC Sports videocast. “Certainly, our fan base took a big leap forward last year – particularly with female, specifically young female fans.”
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Hunt played coy with giving Swift all the credit. After all, his team has won the Super Bowl three of the last five years, and winning teams usually see an uptick in their fanbase.
“I think we had something like a 30% growth in our fan base, which is pretty significant even for a team that won the Super Bowl,” Hunt told CNBC’s Alex Sherman. “So you definitely have to give Taylor a little bit of credit for that. We still get a lot of eyeballs this year — we’ve had several games that have broken [attendance] records, and I think Taylor is a little bit a part of that.”
Sherman and Hunt were reporting live from New Orleans, where the Chiefs will battle the Philadelphia Eagles at the Caesars Superdome on February 9. The Chiefs will be going for a record-breaking three-peat, having won the last two years (against the Eagles in 2023 and the San Francisco 49ers in 2024).
Since Swift, 35, started dating Kelce, also 35, she has caused quite a stir when she makes it to games, often filling her expensive suites with celebrity friends. She’s an enthusiastic fan, too, cheering and always decked out in the team’s color, red. She has grown close to Brittany Mahomes, wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and Kelce’s mom, Donna, who attends every game.
At the Grammys on Sunday, February 2, Swift even wore a red “T” charm on a thigh chain dangling from her red mini-dress, which Swifties have speculated was in support of her boyfriend’s big game.
