Blog #4

 Personally, I always love when BBC or British outlets write about American football. Football was and probably still is my favorite sport since I was a kid, but it has always been a very national sport, when I’ve traveled it is very rare people care about the sport outside of the US or maybe Canada. In recent years the BBC has started to publish more stories on the nfl as the nfl has increased their game load in London, meaning not even going across the pond would allow you to escape from the Taylor swift, Travis Kelce bonanza. BBC and this author did a great job of including different perspectives on the story, the celebrity perspective, the effect on the nfl perspective and even the fan girl perspective. They also did a great job tying other notable celebrities into the story to draw readers in and understand jus how captivated America is by the given story. They do a great job of explaining to people that the nfl is very open to this relationship and is welcoming swift to their games rather than being upset at how focus is shifting. A lot of articles on this incident so far have been focused on the deterioration of commentating and how it’s devolved from actual football talk to tabloid info, but are those articles actually examining the situation from an objective lens? Or are they just personally upset. The author did a great job of incorporating pictures of the event and Swift with her posse in efforts to paint a picture of the scene rather than just describing it.  

    The focus on the story of a particularly avid fan was a welcome inclusion, it made the entire piece seem much more personal and relatable, allowing you to see the genuine excitement this situation is creating. This was a very unique take as the girl was previously a chiefs fan and a swift fan also so it’s a great insight into how both worlds were colliding. The analytical inclusions in the latter half of the article also cemented the genuine effects, the 400% rise in jersey sales and the crazy viewership related to Swifts appearances are hard to deny. It’s easy to debate whether or not this is a good move for the nfl, but it is very hard to argue against verified stats. I greatly enjoyed the inclusion of fan conspiracy theories as well, it puts such a light tone to the article compared to what I normally read; which can have tremendous or depressing real world effects. It only adds to the excitement knowing people are camping at home thinking about this enough to come up with their own theories. This article also included the rare perspective of Swift gaining some advantage from the nfl as well, with her movie coming out on October 13th and her potentially looking to expand her base more and increase movie views. The inclusion of all the tabloid info in this article is a good indication of how much implications this story has beyond just the world of football, even though this article revolved around a celebrities appearance at another football game. 

      I also greatly enjoyed the inclusion of some talk related to football and game strategy. The author mentioned the inclusion of all the celebrities on the Jumbotron throughout the game in crucial moments, almost as if it was a tactic to throw the chiefs off their game. It’s enjoyable to think that not only has this story seeped its way into the mainstream media, but now can also have implications on the game itself. The author also gave due props to jets fans, giving them credit for still far outnumbering the chiefs fan and remaining visibly rowdy despite the presence of such a big star rooting for the opposing team. Most of the stories about Swift and Kelce so far have focused on the efforts made by swift fans to make their voices heard in the nfl community, but fewer focus on the efforts that will need to be made by fan bases now to counteract this and retain their advantages. Many other articles have also poised questions about the impact of Swift fans on crowd noise, especially if they aren’t as engaged in the game or with a given team, but the author does a great job of pointing out that was far from the case in this Jets v Chiefs game. The crowd was as loud or louder than any NY Jets crowd had been all year and no one was running out of the stadium early prior to the exciting finish. It’s a good reminder that just because there’s an inclusion of something new in a given environment, that does not mean you need to adjust your habits, you can still proceed as you normally would and just enjoy the energy that’s always been there (or more).