Is the Coverage on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Romance Nothing but Hype or a Pivotal Shift in NFL’s Century-Old Game Plan Towards Global Recognition?

The hardcore football fans are pretty much done with the NFL harping about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. Reality TV star Rachel Lindsay, a longtime NFL fan, recently slammed the “obnoxious” coverage, highlighting the “exhausting” uptick in Swifties obsessing over football. But that’s just one example of how fans are finding this fixation a little too disrespectful towards the sport.

From the league’s humble beginnings in 1920 to the $18 billion juggernaut that it is today, the ride has been rocky with more than just a few small bumps along the road. But with the ambitious target that NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, has set for 2027, is there a new strategy in the 104-year-old league’s master plan to dominate the world sporting scene?

Why the ‘Traylor’ saga will be the key to Roger Goodell’s $27 billion target?

How can you not love Taylor Swift? Most of the 12 Grammy Awardee’s songs are about that warm fuzzy feeling and chemical reaction that we call love. And her songs have earned the support of 103.7992 million Swifties in the world. Yeah, we don’t have a round figure for that. We have the exact figure up to four decimals. That’s how much data we have on her. Football has 184 million fans. The league is able to generate a revenue of $18 billion from 184 million. If it adds 104 (after rounding 103.7992) million to that number, guess how much revenue it will generate? $28 billion. And just like that, their target will be met.

And while analysts like Stephen A. Smith may go around telling people they should be embarrassed of themselves for getting so invested in someone else’s relationship, it is good business for the NFL. TMZ reported that #87’s jersey sales skyrocketed 400% and his Instagram followers by 276%. Yahoo Finance reported a 53% rise in viewership among teen girls. Who would have thought in their wildest dreams that the NFL would manage to rope in this part of the population? The October 1 matchup between the Chiefs and the Jets drew 27 million viewers. And became the most-watched Sunday TV show since the last Super Bowl! And the last Super Bowl had an actual concert by Rihanna.

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Kaepernick, who? Deflategate, what? In the media frenzy surrounding the two lovebirds, other issues get thrown out of the window. How can fans forget that the NFL is also organizing games outside the American borders with a view to garnering international appeal? The NFL has scheduled 5 games abroad this season. It is also addressing the concussion controversies. It recently added both new concussion rules and a new $100 million initiative called “Play Smart, Play Safe,” to make the sport safer for players. And all the effort is showing.

According to Joe Pompliano, “The NFL will bring in $20 billion in revenue this year, more than the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1 combined.” Coming to the strategy part, a curious mind would perhaps think can they take a leaf out of the NBA’s playbook and reinvigorate its appeal as it aims to conquer international audiences?

Can the NFL take a leaf out of the NBA’s grisly past and glorious recovery?

The NFL is already the world’s richest league. Calling it an incredible feat would be a gross understatement. Consider this: the English Premier League, which is broadcast in over 212 territories, has a revenue of just $6 billion, while football games are primarily viewed in America only. However, the NFL does not just want to stop at $18 billion. It wants to become a $27 billion league in 4 years. But it must address a few skeletons in its closet before reaching that goal.

If you were around in the 1970s (that would make you at least 50 years old today), you would know that the NBA did not have the mass appeal that it enjoys now. With average game attendance hovering around 8,000 a game, it was one of the darkest periods of the basketball league. Drug abuse, brawls on the hardwood court that sometimes spilled over onto coaches and players – it wasn’t a pretty sight. As reported in the Washington Post, even though there are no reliable figures on cocaine use by players, “estimates by people in the game range from 40 percent to 75 percent.” Revisiting the NBA caricature back in time, the New York Knicks became the first all-Black team in 1979. But their fans made their disapproval very apparent. “It wasn’t so much New York attitudes, but fans around the league let you know how they felt about you as an opponent and as a Black man as well,” Knicks star Earl Monroe told Newsday.

We could list out all the scandals, fights, and controversies here, but you get the idea. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who paid $1.8 million (approx.) in penalties on behalf of his team, the Dallas Mavericks, fondly remembered the former NBA commissioner David Stern, on his death in January 2020. Stern came and instituted an anti-drug agreement and even banned All-Star player Michal Richardson for life for drug abuse. The revitalized image of the NBA helped rake in the moolah from sponsors and made it more appealing to fans. He even went against the tide to open up the Olympic basketball competition to NBA players resulting in the famous “Dream Team” of 1992. America has never failed to win a medal in the 19 Olympic basketball games that it has played since then.

The NFL has had its fair share of, um, let’s say, “bumps” down the road as well. From Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem to protest against racism, to domestic violence by players, to the Deflategate and Bountygate scandals. But there have been bigger crises as well. The Union of Concerned Scientists accused the NFL of trying to intimidate scientists studying the link between CTE and pro football. The NFL is already way past other leagues in terms of revenue, and now with the pivotal shift in its strategy, “America’s favorite pastime” is on its way to world domination.

Editorial Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of EssentiallySports. 

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