Taylor Swift Reportedly Unhappy with the NFL After Chiefs-Ravens Decision

Grammy-winning pop star Taylor Swift is one of the most high-profile celebrities in the world, so when she plans to attend an event, it turns into quite the big deal.

So when the NFL leaked information to The Athletic last week that Swift would be in attendance for Thursday’s season opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens to support her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, it didn’t sit right with her team.

According to a report from Page Six, Swift’s team was allegedly fuming that news of her whereabouts were made public after the CIA was informed of threats made against her before a concert in Austria — an incident that forced her to cancel three shows and become more vigilant about sharing her location.

“She has presidential-level security. After Austria, her security firm is not too happy that her whereabouts are out,” a source told Page Six .

The NFL — and the Chiefs — aren’t naïve to the face that Swift is good for the league’s bottom line.

Wherever Swift goes, she draws a crowd, and her team believes the NFL leaked news of her being at Thursday’s game as a way to get more eyeballs on the game — and it worked.

The Chiefs 27-20 win set a ratings record with 28.9 million viewers — the most of any NFL kickoff game since it became a tradition back in 2002 and a 5% increase over the 27.5 million viewers that watched the 2023 kickoff game between the Chiefs and Detroit Lions. It also had an audience of 4.6 million viewers across streaming platforms including Peacock, NBC and NFL digital.

The game also drew a 37 share (the percentage of households with television sets watching a specific program at a specific time) on NBC, which is the largest number for a prime-time NFL regular-season game in the network’s history.

After learning on the fly last season, the Chiefs are apparently better equipped to handle Swift-mania this season.

“We’ll be prepared for her, and obviously welcome her with open arms,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan told Front Office Sports . “She brings a lot with her, and it’s a pretty valuable, targeted demographic when you look at the makeup of her fan base. And we’ve looked at ways that we could be respectful.”