Taylor Swift & The Rigged Super Bowl: A Wild NFL Conspiracy Theory Explained
On Sunday, January 28, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 to secure a spot in the 2024 Super Bowl — and some factions of football fans think the National Football League rigged the entire situation.
Why would the NFL want to ensure the Chiefs face off against the San Francisco 49ers on February 11? It might have something to do with the team's all-star tight end, Travis Kelce, widely regarded as one of the best to ever play the position ... and his high-profile romance with global superstar Taylor Swift. The two have been dating since the summer of 2023, as Swift revealed in the profile that accompanied her Time Person of the Year cover; after Kelce attended her Eras Tour stop in Kansas City in July, he tried to pass a friendship bracelet to her adorned with his phone number. The rest is history, as Swift says they started spending time together shortly thereafter.
The "Midnights" singer-songwriter has been faithfully attending Kansas City Chiefs games since September, so it stands to reason that she'll rush back from her Tokyo show on February 10 to support Kelce at the Super Bowl. So, what's the root of the conspiracy? Basically, Swift's sheer popularity would help boost the event's ratings.
Some people think the NFL engineered a Kansas City Chiefs win
So why are some fans — who, frankly, probably aren't fans of either the Kansas City Chiefs or San Francisco 49ers — speculating about this? Again, this is all based on the fact that Taylor Swift happens to drive a lot of attention toward the NFL, which is already enormously popular with Americans (there's a reason that companies spend ludicrous amounts of money just to air commercials during the Super Bowl whether or not Swift is attending). That said, Swift's presence at the games did boost ratings even more, and merch like Kelce's jersey also oversold as she kept attending. Some people took the theory entirely too far, like failed presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
The entrepreneur took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share his wild idea, which reads as follows: "I wonder who's going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there's a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let's see how it ages over the next 8 months." Yes, that's right; not only does Ramaswamy think it's rigged, but he thinks Swift and Kelce's relationship is fake and that it's all related to politics.
Let's look at the facts for a moment. The Kansas City Chiefs are, frankly, a very good team. Kelce is one of the best tight ends in NFL history. The Chiefs have already won Super Bowls with Kelce on the team. Is this all rigged, though? And does it have anything to do with the 2024 election?
There's also a political conspiracy theory about Taylor Swift and her guy on the Chiefs
That's right — there are two conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift making the rounds as of press time, and 2024 has only just truly begun. The other is related to the 2024 election, as Vivek Ramaswamy mentioned in his musings. Not only do some people think the NFL is propping up Swift, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs for ratings bliss, they also think that Swift is a political asset; in fact, Fox News already accused her of being a Pentagon plant (which the Pentagon actually had to deny).
Right as the NFL conspiracies about Swift and Kelce were heating up, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was forced to invoke the Hatch Act during a briefing — which bars federal employees from some political activities — when asked if President Joe Biden would attend an Eras Tour show to ask Swift to endorse him this November. Jean-Pierre demurred due to this rule before saying her office has plenty of "Swifties" and saying she can't comment on the president's upcoming campaign schedule.
To be clear, Swift encouraged her fans to sign up to vote in the fall of 2023 and encouraged over 35,000 fans to register. She has not endorsed anyone for President, nor is she, per the Pentagon, a plant.
Do any of these conspiracy theories hold water?
No. They don't.
Neither Taylor Swift nor Travis Kelce is a particularly good actor, despite their myriad of other talents; their connection is refreshingly genuine, and Swifties across the world are embracing the couple's public displays of affection. The National Football League isn't rigging anything for the Kansas City Chiefs, a solid team who were primed to lock in another Super Bowl appearance based off their roster and talent alone. The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched events of each year and would be whether or not Swift attends. Yes, her presence will draw audiences that might not watch otherwise, but the Super Bowl will, to be clear, do just fine even if Swift isn't there for some reason.
Swift and Kelce are two of the most recognizable people in the world right now, and the highs of their public relationship were bound to inspire some bizarre theories. Once again, though — they're all quite baseless. Swift's Eras Tour resumes in Tokyo, Japan, on February 7, and the Super Bowl showdown between the Chiefs and 49ers takes place on February 11 at 6:30 PM EST.