“America’s football mom” Donna Kelce took a minute between her partnership with Barefoot Wine, launching her own snack line with KIND Snacks, getting her “split” team jacket back from the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the November 20 game, and of course watching her sons play football, to talk Taylor Swift to Fox News on Thursday.
Fans have been electrified by the “Taylor Swift Effect” on the NFL, ever since the pop star first appeared at Arrowhead Stadium on September 24 to cheer on Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Swift donned Chiefs gear and sat next to Donna Kelce, to the delight of her fans and apparently the delight of NFL pocketbooks, according to the league’s viewership numbers.
#gamedayfit pic.twitter.com/l96sLcLwiz
— Donna Kelce (@dkelce1) February 12, 2023
The next week, amid rumors that Swift would be in attendace, the Chief’s game against the New York Jets brought in 27 million viewers, the most for a Sunday night game since the Superbowl, according to NBC Sports.
Taylor Swift, right, watches from a suite alongside Travis Kelce’s mother, Donna Kelce, inside Arrowhead Stadium during the first half of an NFL football game between the Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs on September 24, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
“I would imagine that they would be thrilled with any new viewership,” Donna Kelce told Fox News:
I mean, how could you not be? Football is essentially easy to get involved with and enjoy, and it’s exciting. The other thing, too, is that it’s just one of those things that you can dabble in to. You don’t have to be an expert in it.
So I think it’s a fun thing for the NFL to get new viewership, and I’m sure they’re extremely happy about it and I can’t see they’d have any issue with that at all.
A fan holds a sign during the first half of an NFL football game between the Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs on September 24, 2023, in Kansas City, Missouri. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
Taylor Swift Mania has also brought some backlash from NFL fans, who say it is taking things too far, after the league updated its Instagram bio to add a Swift reference that read “Chiefs are 2-0 as swifties” before deleting the line.
📲| @NFL changed their bio on IG
“chiefs are 2-0 as swifties” pic.twitter.com/YxiwmoWWNC
— The Swift Society (@TheSwiftSociety) October 2, 2023
Even Travis Kelce had to admit the NFL is “overdoing” Taylor Swift Mania, as he revealed during his October 4 podcast with his brother, Jason Kelce, who plays center for the Philadelphia Eagles:
“I think it’s fun when they show who was at the game. I think it brings a little bit more to the atmosphere brings a little bit more to what you’re watching. But at the same time, I think…” Travis replied.
“They’re overdoing it?” Jason said, finishing his brother’s sentence.
“They’re overdoing it a little bit for sure, especially my situation. [But] I think they’re just trying to have fun with it,” Travis concluded.
Donna Kelce greets her sons, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, left, and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce during the NFL football Super Bowl 57 opening night on February 6, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Now, fans are questioning if the Chiefs’ star will crumble under the pressure of such a high-profile relationship, especially after Entertainment Tonight reported that Kelce and Swift are “all in” and that he plans to “visit Swift during her international tour that takes place in November, taking advantage of the Chiefs’ bye week to travel.”
Donna Kelce is not worried about her son, though.
“There were some people saying he’s not going to be able to handle the season, he’s not going to be a good football player,” she explained. “But it turns out that the more that he is pushed or challenged, he takes it to a new level.”
Travis Kelce and the Chiefs take on the Miami Dolphins this Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany.