Travis Kelce’s mother Donna has offered her opinion on the National Football League’s coverage of Taylor Swift amid rumours she’s dating her son.
In Donna’s opinion, the NFL is “laughing all the way to the bank” as a result of the rumoured romance. During the Got It From My Momma podcast, the proud football mom told host Jennifer Vickery Smith what she really thinks about all the fuss from sports fans attacking the league’s supposed obsession with the speculated romance.
According to “Mama Kelce,” the NFL is getting what they deserve. “Good for them. They’re getting the ramifications of everything,” she admitted.
“I can tell you this, that they’ve told me personally that the Kelce family has done more good PR for football than they could’ve paid a million dollars to a PR firm,” Donna added.
Following Swift’s surprise appearance at the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Chicago Bears on 24 September, the Grammy winner’s audience grew. Not only were known “Swifties” drawing attention to their beloved singer’s supposed new beau, but sports lovers were soon weighing in too.
The NFL swapped their masthead on X, formerly known as Twitter, to a picture of the 33-year-old vocalist and spotlighted her in the Kelce family suite a number of times throughout their game coverage.
Then, when Swift shocked spectators again by bringing her posse of A-listers to MetLife Stadium on 1 October, the NFL took its obsession to a whole new level. Even before the Chiefs’ victory in New Jersey, the league published numerous promotions with Swift, generating buzz over whether the “Anti-Hero” artist would attend two games in a row.
During the game, NBC accumulated an average of 27 million viewers, all of who watched as the network panned to the star-studded suite multiple times.
Kelce, 33, and his brother Jason, 35, discussed the increased publicity on their recent episode of New Heights, after the Philadelphia Eagles player asked if his brother thought the NFL was “overdoing it” with the celebrity features.
“Take away your feelings for Taylor,” Jason said. “What is your honest opinion on how the NFL is treating celebrities at the games?”
“I think it brings a little more to the atmosphere, it brings a little bit more to what you’re watching. But at the same time, I think...” Kelce replied.
“They’re overdoing it a little bit, for sure,” he continued after his brother interrupted. “Especially my situation. I think they’re just trying to have fun with it.”
Podcast listeners seemed to agree that the NFL should relax with the Swift publicity too. “The NFL needs to seriously tone it down and let Trav and Tay explore this beautiful thing they have going on in peace,” one individual admitted.
In an official statement shared with People, the NFL responded to the criticisms, defending the coverage.
“We frequently change our bios and profile imagery based on what’s happening in and around our games, as well as culturally,” the NFL wrote on 4 October. “The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce news has been a pop cultural moment we’ve leaned into in real time, as it’s an intersection of sport and entertainment, and we’ve seen an incredible amount of positivity around the sport.”
“The vast majority of our content has remained focused on the game, our players and variety of other initiatives, including our Toy Story Funday Football alt-cast, the international games and more,” the statement continued.
All eyes are on Swift this weekend to see if she’ll complete a hat trick of appearances and be cheering in the stands at Kelce’s game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
