Taylor Swift did not get a warm reception at the Superdome for Super Bowl LIX on February 9. When the pop superstar was shown on screen during the first quarter of the game, the crowd, largely Eagles fans, greeted her with a round of boos.
On The Howard Stern Show on February 12, Saquon Barkley was asked if he thought Travis Kelce and Swift would eventually get married. Barkley said he wasn’t sure, but expressed his confusion at the reception she got during the game.
“I remember that they showed her on the jumbotron, and she got booed. I don’t get it. I don’t get why she was getting hate there,” Barkley said. “She was there supporting her significant other and she’s made the game bigger. In football we’re all about, ‘How can we expand the game and make it more [international].’ We’re traveling to Brazil, we’re traveling to Mexico. Apparently, we’re traveling to Australia soon. We’re trying to expand the game and her being a part of it is only helping it. I don’t get the dislike she’s getting.”
Perhaps some of that stems from the fact that Swift used to be an Eagles fan.
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Since Swift and Kelce began dating in 2023, the relationship has generated millions of impressions and millions of dollars for the league. Female viewership of the NFL was up 9% during the first year of the relationship in 2023-24, according to Nielsen TV ratings, and both Kelce brothers, Travis and Jason, shot up the jersey sale rankings.
But not everyone has enjoyed her continued involvement with the league. Due to the increase in ratings she brings, TV networks often show her in the suite during games, alongside her celebrity friends and her family, after Kelce touchdowns or big Chiefs moments.
Super Bowl LIX was her second Super Bowl. She flew back from Tokyo in 2024 to attend the Chiefs’ win in Super Bowl LVIII over the 49ers and was photographed on the field with Kelce.
—Gabriela Carroll, The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)
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