Taylor Swift Is Getting People Making $100,000 Into Football

While some fans might be rolling their eyes every time Taylor Swift gets screen time during NFL games, it's no secret that a growing number of Americans have started tuning into football solely because of her. And many of them are high earners with the potential to spend a lot of money on football.

When the Chiefs and 49ers battle in the Super Bowl on February 11, there will be plenty of new viewers watching as Swift cheers on her boyfriend, Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce.

A new survey from LendingTree found that 13 percent of Americans said they were more interested in football due to Swift. And among Gen Z (those ages 18 to 27) and millennials, that interest was a lot higher, at 24 and 20 percent, respectively.

Altogether, 18 percent of Americans said they were rooting for the Chiefs in the title game because Swift is dating Kelce.

"If there's one thing that people should've learned all too well by now, it's that you should never be surprised by the enormity of Swift's influence," LendingTree's chief credit analyst Matt Schulz said. "She's an absolute force to be reckoned with economically, and while her grip on the American public isn't going to last forever, no one should bet on it fading much anytime soon."

Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, said the love story between Swift and Kelce adds an extra compelling 'B story' to the NFL, similar to advertisements in the Super Bowl.

"It's not surprising that the increased interest has been observed across the demographic board; it'd be surprising if it hadn't," Thompson told Newsweek. "Even if one is not a Taylor Swift fan, the romance brings a whole new dimension and dramaturgical voltage that adds a layer of drama not usually seen in football."

Beyond the younger generations, one group in particular saw their football interest skyrocket as a result of Swift's interest though: high earners.

Those who made $100,000 and above were far more likely to say they were interested in football or the Super Bowl because of Swift than any other income group, at 21 percent. That's compared to just 9 percent of those earning less than $35,000, showing wealthier football viewers might be more inclined to watch as a result of their love for Swift.

While Swift fans come from virtually every demographic group, the success of Swift's Eras Tour shows fans are willing to support her with money, and this is especially true for higher earners.

"The monumental success of the Eras Tour showed that Swift has loads of high-income fans who are willing to spend big bucks, even thousands of dollars, to see her and support her," Schulz said. "Now that she has turned her interest to the NFL, these fans and their big bank accounts have done the same."

The increased interest in football has tangible benefits to NFL teams as well, especially the Chiefs, since 16 percent of Americans in the survey said they had spent money on football because of Swift.

"This is bringing in new fans in droves, and that's great for the league," Schulz said. "There's no question that many of these new fans will lose interest if Swift and Kelce split or if something else happens to where Swift is less visible at games. However, in the meantime, fans are spending on jerseys, memorabilia, tickets, streaming services and more in huge numbers, and that just means the NFL gets richer and richer and richer."

And you shouldn't just expect an influx of women rushing to buy Chiefs jerseys or memorabilia either. The LendingTree survey found that 15 percent of men were more interested in football now because of Swift, which was more than women in the survey, who said this just 12 percent of the time.

Schulz said this is because the NFL has already been far more popular with women than many people might think, and the same is true for Swift's influence among men.

"The truth is you can't reach the heights of success financially, culturally and otherwise that Taylor Swift and the NFL have reached by just catering to men or women exclusively," Schulz told Newsweek. "That means that when Swifties en masse suddenly become football fans, a lot of those who do will be men."

Thompson echoed this sentiment, saying the well-circulated theory that Swift produces music just for girls is a myth, just as is the idea that women don't enjoy football.

"The ongoing telling of this story has often assumed that women needed the emotional, 'feminine' addition of Taylor in order to be able to enjoy the 'masculine' space of football when, in fact, women already made up a substantial chunk of the NFL fanbase," Thompson said.