Forbes contributor Leonard Armato joins Brittany Lewis on "Forbes Talks" to discuss Taylor Swift's impact on the NFL.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/leonardarmato/2024/01/28/chiefs-49ers-super-bowl-and-taylor-swift-nfl-script-conspiracy-theory/
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PeopleTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - Hi everybody, I'm Brittany Lewis
00:04 with Forbes Breaking News.
00:06 Joining me now is Forbes contributor, Leonard Armato.
00:08 Leonard, thanks so much for joining me.
00:11 - Hi Brittany, good to see you again.
00:13 - Good to see you as well.
00:14 And I'm excited for our conversation today
00:16 because it's really two worlds colliding
00:19 this football season with Taylor Swift
00:21 hitting the stands to support her boyfriend, Travis Kelsey.
00:24 So first, before we dive into the conversation,
00:26 what did you make of this crossover over the season?
00:31 - Well, it's massive.
00:32 I mean, it's huge for the NFL.
00:34 It's even big for her because, I mean,
00:36 how do you get bigger than Taylor Swift?
00:37 It's kind of hard, but she seems to figure out ways
00:41 to just keep expanding her presence,
00:43 her likability, her brand.
00:45 So I would say she's a marketing genius.
00:47 - I wanna read you a number because when I heard it,
00:51 I mean, my eyes popped out of my head.
00:53 According to reporting from Front Office Sports,
00:56 Taylor Swift, quote, has generated an equivalent brand value
01:00 of $331.5 million for the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL.
01:05 You said she was a marketing genius.
01:07 So how exactly do you think she was able to do this?
01:11 - Well, I mean, her association with Kelsey and the Chiefs
01:15 is what does it, and she's the biggest star in the world.
01:17 So that's the impact.
01:18 I mean, I think their merchandise sales went up by 400%.
01:22 The brand value went up tremendously.
01:25 But if you think about it,
01:26 viewership for all the NFL games are going up in a big way.
01:29 In fact, people were predicting
01:30 that this would be the biggest Super Bowl ever,
01:33 'cause I don't know if you heard this, Brittany,
01:34 but she's actually playing in a concert in Tokyo, Japan
01:38 on Saturday night and the Super Bowl's on Sunday.
01:41 So everybody was predicting
01:42 if she was gonna be there or not.
01:43 And I think the prevailing theory
01:47 is that she will in fact be there
01:48 because Japan's an hour ahead, excuse me, a whole day ahead,
01:52 and she can finish her concert at midnight in Japan
01:54 and get back by Saturday night in Las Vegas
01:57 to be at the Super Bowl.
01:59 So I think the odds are that Taylor Swift
02:01 will be at the Super Bowl watching her boyfriend play.
02:05 - Yeah, that was fun to track that.
02:07 Other things like the flight names going into Las Vegas
02:11 are named, kind of cheekily giving a reference
02:15 to Taylor Swift.
02:16 And the scenes from the Chiefs AFC Championship game
02:19 were really like straight out of a rom-com after
02:21 with her going down onto the field.
02:23 So how good do you think Taylor Swift is
02:25 for the NFL overall?
02:27 - I mean, she's amazing for the NFL.
02:29 I mean, there's no question about it.
02:31 I mean, and the stats don't lie.
02:32 You already gave me a few stats as to how everything was up.
02:36 You know, the value was up, the merchandise is up,
02:39 viewership is up, everything is up.
02:41 I think the fun part is to kind of fantasize
02:43 about how scripted this really is.
02:46 I mean, we could take a little trip down fantasy lane
02:49 if you want, but that's sort of the fun thing to talk about.
02:52 - No, absolutely, and that's what I was going to get to next
02:54 because really some NFL Taylor Swift conspiracy theories
02:58 have been emerging over the last weeks
03:00 as we head into the Super Bowl.
03:02 Can you tell us what they are?
03:05 - Well, there's a whole bunch of fun theories.
03:06 And first of all, let me just start by saying this.
03:09 I don't believe that anything involving the outcome
03:12 of an NFL game is ever, ever, ever scripted.
03:16 I think the leagues have too much on the line
03:19 in terms of preserving their integrity.
03:21 And I've been around commissioners of leagues
03:23 for a long time, and there's no way they ever want
03:26 to have the outcome of the game be predetermined
03:29 because sports is the ultimate, let's call it reality.
03:33 And people want to see the team that they love win
03:37 based on something that is not predetermined.
03:39 There's no question.
03:40 So just understand they don't believe that.
03:42 But as far as the relationship with Taylor Swift
03:45 and Kelsey go, it's kind of fun to think about,
03:47 well, maybe she got together with Rodney Goodell
03:50 and thought maybe if I dated a football player,
03:52 that might be good for my brand.
03:53 And he thought, well, it'd be good for my brand
03:55 if the biggest star in the world
03:56 were dating a football player.
03:57 And they figured out that Kelsey
03:58 was the perfect vehicle to do that.
04:00 But the truth is, I think that
04:03 they really do like each other.
04:04 I think they did secretly date
04:07 to make sure they really liked each other
04:08 before their coming out party.
04:10 But I think that Taylor Swift
04:11 is such a brilliant marketer.
04:13 She did the coming out party in a very strategic way.
04:16 Sit next to the mom, in the box,
04:18 the camera pans to her and wait for your boyfriend
04:20 after the game, show support.
04:23 I'm dating a football hero.
04:24 My Swifties will love that.
04:26 So I think it's all kind of fun.
04:29 - Definitely.
04:29 And it's the all-American story, really.
04:31 I mean, she's America's sweetheart,
04:34 dating a star in the NFL.
04:35 I mean, you couldn't write a movie better than this.
04:38 And something that I really like looking at social media
04:41 is seeing all of these videos
04:44 with little girls suddenly being interested in football
04:47 because of Taylor Swift watching with their dad.
04:50 So do you think that this sort of Taylor Swift effect
04:54 will have an everlasting impact on the NFL?
04:57 Or is it a season only?
04:59 Or as long as the Swift relationship goes with Kelsey,
05:03 do you think it'll last that long?
05:04 What do you think that looks like?
05:06 - Well, like you said, it's already enlisted new fans.
05:10 I mean, little girls seeing this and wanting to watch.
05:14 And once you're introduced to a sport,
05:16 sometimes you fall in love with it
05:17 if you're favorably inclined.
05:20 So I think it will have a long-term effect.
05:22 Whether she and Kelsey last or not,
05:24 that's yet to be determined.
05:25 Although they seem like a good match.
05:27 One thing we know for certain,
05:28 if the relationship doesn't last,
05:30 she's gonna write a song about it.
05:32 (laughing)
05:34 - So there's probably content coming out of this either way,
05:38 whether we see more games,
05:39 more footage of her in that suite, perhaps a love song.
05:42 Hopefully, we're all rooting for a love song,
05:44 not a breakup song, right?
05:46 - Yes, yes, yes, a love song.
05:48 And if you think about it,
05:49 all the photos and the little video clips are so perfect.
05:52 I mean, he scores touchdowns
05:54 in the NFC Championship game.
05:56 I mean, who would have thought he'd like raise his game,
05:58 you know, at the championship
06:00 so that he could cut to the box and show her cheering,
06:02 so they could show her on the field kissing him afterwards,
06:05 so they could capture him saying, "I love you."
06:07 I mean, it's like, oh my gosh,
06:08 you couldn't have scripted it better.
06:10 It works great.
06:11 It is, like you said, a perfect rom-com.
06:15 - And a lot of Swifties I've seen,
06:17 obviously, really like this.
06:19 Some people who are NFL fans are kind of sick of it.
06:22 What do you make of that?
06:24 - I just think that, you know,
06:26 everybody's got something to say.
06:28 I mean, at the end of the day, it's great for the NFL.
06:30 And somebody might say,
06:31 "Oh, I don't care about Taylor Swift,"
06:33 or "He was already a star before she became involved."
06:36 And there's a lot of people
06:38 that maybe don't like Taylor Swift.
06:40 I mean, it's possible.
06:41 I mean, she's America's sweetheart,
06:43 but maybe some curmudgeons don't like her.
06:46 But that doesn't take away from the massive following
06:48 that she has and her image,
06:50 and the fact that she's absolutely great
06:52 for the Chiefs, for the game.
06:54 She's great for Kelsey, too, by the way.
06:56 I mean, his popularity has skyrocketed as well.
06:58 So it's the Taylor Swift effect.
07:00 It's huge.
07:01 - And I remember at the beginning of this season,
07:05 once she was spotted at the game initially,
07:08 a lot of people, a fun internet trend
07:10 that went viral on social media,
07:12 were people asking,
07:14 "Hey, did Taylor Swift put Travis Kelsey on the map?"
07:18 Do you think that she did?
07:19 - No, she didn't put him on the map.
07:22 She just made that map that much more visible
07:25 to millions and millions and millions of people.
07:28 If you think about it, think about it.
07:30 I mean, Travis Kelsey was already an NFL star.
07:33 So NFL football fans knew who he was,
07:36 and he was a star player.
07:37 He was always really a good player.
07:39 But when Taylor Swift and Kelsey started dating,
07:43 he went into the stratosphere.
07:44 Like his jersey sales went up massively.
07:48 He started appearing in every television commercial.
07:50 Haven't you watched TV and seen Kelsey commercial
07:52 after Kelsey commercial after Kelsey commercial?
07:55 And probably the companies
07:57 that maybe did a Kelsey commercial
07:58 doubled down on those commercials
08:00 and started playing them more and more and more.
08:01 So I just think it's had a huge effect on him.
08:04 And by the way, think about what he's gonna do next.
08:06 I just saw a conspiracy theory
08:07 that he's gonna retire after winning the Super Bowl
08:11 and go into acting and become the next action hero.
08:14 (both laughing)
08:16 - Well, what do you think about the Super Bowl?
08:18 It is coming up.
08:19 Any predictions there?
08:21 What can we look out for?
08:23 - Well, I've been writing a series of articles
08:24 about poor Brock Purdy, you know,
08:26 because he makes $870,000,
08:30 which is like the lowest paid quarterback in the NFL.
08:33 And he's been outperforming all these quarterbacks,
08:35 making $50 million or so.
08:36 So I kind of like rooting for the underdog in this instance.
08:40 And, you know, I have said the 49ers
08:43 should just rip up Purdy's contract
08:44 and just give him a really great deal
08:46 because he's led them to the Super Bowl
08:48 through a lot of adversity and a lot of criticism.
08:50 So my prediction, I don't know, I don't have a prediction,
08:53 but like I said, I like to root for the underdog
08:56 and it'll be fun to watch no matter what,
08:57 but hey, get to see Taylor Swift.
08:59 I'm sure I'll see her on the Super Bowl for sure.
09:02 We get to see if Purdy can overcome the obstacles
09:04 and beat the champions and it'll be a fun Super Bowl.
09:07 Probably gonna be a record crowd watching it.
09:09 I think they're predicting like 130 million people
09:12 because of the Taylor Swift effect.
09:15 - I'm sure, so fingers crossed
09:16 that her flight does not get delayed.
09:19 Leonard Armato, thank you so much.
09:20 - It won't get delayed because she has her own private jet
09:22 and she can take off anytime she wants.
09:25 - Absolutely, you're right there.
09:27 Leonard Armato, thank you so much for joining me.
09:30 - Okay, thank you.
09:31 It was great to see you, Brittany, take care.
09:33 (upbeat music)
09:36 (upbeat music)
09:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]