This week’s Sunday Night Football matchup was supposed to feature Patrick Mahomes against Aaron Rodgers, but that’s not going to happen.
Viewership of the game will probably suffer a little bit without Rodgers, but NBC’s Mike Florio thinks Taylor Swift fans can give the game a nice bump.
In an appearance on Bernstein & Holmes on 670 The Score on Wednesday, Florio expressed doubt that football fans will one day get to see a game featuring the Mahomes and Rodgers considering all the previous potential matchups between the Chiefs and Packers one quarterback or the other was hurt and wouldn’t be able to play.
But with tight end Travis Kelce now reportedly dating Taylor Swift, Florio said there’s great potential that there will be added interest in hopes of potentially seeing Taylor in another suite cheering Kelce and the Chiefs on.
“If all the Swifties out there decide they’re gonna descend on NBC and Peacock on Sunday night to watch Travis Kelce – and maybe catch glimpses of Taylor Swift in a luxury suite at MetLife Stadium – those numbers could go through the roof,” he said.
Florio added that he’s only been paying attention to and talking about Kelce and Swift since Travis saw a huge jump in jersey sales this week. Reports are that sales were up 400%.
Mike credited Rich Eisen for pointing out on Monday that while the league will undoubtedly stand to benefit further from the Swift effect, it wasn’t a good day for those who worked on announcing Usher as the halftime performer at the Super Bowl in February.
“The NFL had to be pissed that the day that they announced Usher was gonna be the Super Bowl halftime performer, Taylor Swift took all the oxygen out of the musical room as far as the NFL is concerned,” Florio said. He added that it’s possible Swift is trying to leverage herself into a spot on the stage in Las Vegas.
