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 in the Meadowlands to watch her new boyfriend Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs march to victory over the New York Jets.
The NFL appears to be banking on Swift’s presence at games, considering that around 27 million people watched the Chiefs game on Sunday, and the league briefly updated its Instagram account with a post that read, “The Chiefs are 2-0 as Swifties.” The post was removed several hours later after receiving hundreds of negative reactions from fans.
Viewership for Sunday’s game was the highest in the league since the Super Bowl. During the game, NBC cameras will periodically switch to Swift to capture her reactions to various plays.
NFL fans have criticized Swift’s “football takeover,” with some saying the constant references to the singer during coverage are “destroying football.”
Angry NFL fans have slammed the fanfare surrounding Taylor Swift (pictured with Ryan Reynolds) and her rumored boyfriend Travis Kelce after NBC cut to the singer 17 times during its broadcast of Sunday night’s Jets-Chiefs game
At least one Giants fan didn’t want to see Taylor Swift’s face on the screen Monday night
Angry NFL fans have slammed the fanfare surrounding Taylor Swift and her rumored boyfriend Travis Kelce after NBC cut to the singer 17 times during its broadcast of Sunday night’s 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: “The extensive coverage of Taylor Swift at this game is infuriating.” I don’t even like football and I agree that it is destroying football. Just enough.’
And the excitement surrounding the singer wasn’t limited to NBC – Fox NFL Sunday co-host Terry Bradshaw even gave his colleagues handmade Taylor Swift friendship bracelets during the live broadcast. As he handed them out, he said, “You’re part of the Swiftie group now.”
The Chiefs scored a thrilling win over the Jets as celebrity friends Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and others joined Swift in her suite at MetLife, according to the network’s press release.
When the Jets came within eight points of the Chiefs in the second quarter of the thrilling Week 4 game, viewership peaked at an estimated 29.4 million viewers.
That’s 2.68 million more than the 24.32 million who watched Swift cheer on 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. That marked NBC Sports’ largest streaming audience ever for an NFL regular-season Sunday game and a 42 percent increase over last year’s Week 4 game that pitted 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’s nearly three million more than the 24.32 who watched the Chiefs claim victory over the Bears last week with Swift in the stands at Arrowhead
Swift’s support for her new beau also attracted a new audience to the NFL, as Swifties continued to tune in to catch a glimpse of the 12-time Grammy winner.
According to NBC, Sunday’s show saw an increase in viewership among women of all ages, adding more than 2 million female viewers.
A number of die-hard soccer fans took to social media to criticize NBC over its coverage of MetLife, where the camera regularly showed footage of Swift and her high-profile friends.
One wrote: “Please don’t play a Taylor Swift on your TV drinking game… you’ll be hospitalized if you aren’t already.”
Another added: “Those Taylor Swift cutaways during Chiefs games need to go.”
While much of the excitement centered around Swift’s potential to be in the stadium, the angriest reaction came after the Chiefs’ first touchdown, when the cameras immediately cut to Taylor and her celebrity friends in her suite.
Since it was Isiah Pacheco who scored the points and not Kelce, some fans were angry and insisted they should have shown the players celebrating on the court instead.
Swift has remained tight-lipped about her romance with the professional football player, but during the game she was seen leaning over to her actress friend Lively and whispering, “Look at him.”
As you’d expect, fans went wild after watching the clip live on NBC, with one writing on Instagram: “She literally can’t believe she’s dating the hottest athlete.”
Meanwhile, another added: “She’s in love like a kitten.”
It is believed Swift and Kelce left the stadium separately after the game, with the NFL tight end staying with his teammates and boarding the Chiefs bus.
Meanwhile, Taylor headed to the private members’ club Zero Bond in New York City, where she continued the party until the early hours of the morning.
Next up for Kelce and the Chief is a trip to Minnesota to face Kirk Cousins.
On Monday, the Seahawks easily defeated the anti-Swift Giants 24-3.