Love it or hate it, the Taylor Swift effect on the Kansas City Chiefs has certainly brought a new audience to the NFL, but according to one Football Hall of Famer, it's the reason the league is losing fans.
Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy will be at the 2024 Hula Bowl in Orlando as he is inducted into the Hula Bowl Hall of Fame. Ahead of the game, Dungy was one of several former soccer stars interviewed by Fox News and was asked about a survey that found less than 25% of Generation Z describe themselves as “avid sports fans.” Hall of Fame member Rod Woodson attributed the cause to interest in sports betting and there being general fans rather than team fans, but Dungy took a different tack in his statement.
“I think we will always play sports in some form. Some people are disillusioned with it,” Dungy said.
When asked about the Taylor Swift effect, Dungy said the megastar is an example of why people aren't very interested in the NFL.
“That’s what puts people off sports today,” he said. “So much comes in from outside. Entertainment value and different things that distract from what’s really happening on the field.”
NBC Sports broadcaster Tony Dungy during the game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium.
While there were some NFL fans who weren't happy with how often Swift was shown attending Chiefs games in support of Travis Kelce, that certainly hasn't affected the sport's popularity.
The NFL continues to dominate television, with 82 NFL games in the top 100 broadcasts of 2023. The league's average viewership also increased to 17.9 million, the second-highest average since 1995.
If any proof were needed for the Chiefs, Kansas City's Christmas game against the Las Vegas Raiders had an average audience of 29.2 million viewers, making it the most-watched Christmas game of the NFL regular season. Kansas City's Nov. 22 game against the Philadelphia Eagles in a Super Bowl 57 rematch averaged $29.03 million. So if Dungy is worried about the sport's popularity, he seems to be doing just fine at the moment.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tony Dungy says Taylor Swift is the reason NFL fans are “disillusioned.”