Specifically, the Chiefs-Broncos game tonight. I didn’t tune in to see Taylor Swift on my screen every time Travis Kelce did something even remotely remarkable. I tuned in to watch football. Needless to say, I’m not watching any more of the game for lack of desire to see that soap opera voyeurism apparently so popular with the hoi polloi.
Looks like you’ll have to skip any games with the Chiefs (or maybe just listen to the radio) until she breaks up with Kelce.
Taylor Swift helped boost NFL ratings, but her power extends far beyond the league.
Sunday night’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets, which Swift attended, drew 27 million viewers — making it the most-watched Sunday TV show since the last Super Bowl, according to NBC Sports.
Yes don’t let the pop star spoil your evening of intellectual pleasures.
Take this performative nonsense somewhere else, snowflake.
I get being a fan of Taylor Swift. I do not get watching a football game that I wouldn’t ordinarily watch because she’s in the stadium. For example, I like Elton John, but I’m not going to watch a soccer game because he’s sitting there rooting for the home team. I’ll catch his next concert, or even watch him on the Tonight Show. I don’t get why Taylor Swift is increasing ratings. Are there really people out there who don’t watch football generally, but will watch it because someone famous is in the stands?
[I know he’s retired. This is just an example]
ETA: My comments are directed to the ratings bump. It doesn’t bother me that the networks are showing her in the stands. I assume it’s between plays and who cares?
Yes. Taylor Swift fans are highly invested in her personal life, and she is rarely in public. This is meat to the lions.
With that said - good for them. Football is fun, and it’s fun to watch. God forbid they develop an interest in something that millions of other people are interested in. I’m sure Swift doesn’t mind the cross-promotional boost the other way around, either. Football and Taylor Swift aren’t mutually exclusive, and none of the sideshow coverage has taken away from missing a single insightful nugget by Al Michaels (don’t hold your breath).
NFL broadcasts jumped the shark a decade or two ago.
The audio is almost pure off-field soap opera and front office shenanigans.
At least the cameras are normally pointed at the action. During the rare 1 minute in 5 they’re not broadcasting a commercial instead of, you know, a football game. I have returned from an extended ad break mid-game (not halftime) and forgotten who the visiting team is; it had been that long since the last time a game was on the screen or mentioned by the yak-yakkers.
I did not see the specific Chiefs game the OP is lamenting, but pix of a famous chick in the stands are the least of the NFL’s crimes against the fan base. I’d much rather look at a professionally cute chick with no audio than another ad for Prilosec or Ram tough pickup trucks.
Where else should he take it? Performative nonsense is practically the whole point of the pit.
I am greatly enjoying every shot of Taylor Swift, thanks Jeff Bezos!
why would you watch some rando handegg game when there’s playoff baseball on? Phillies win…& move on!!!
Ah, baseball! America’s favorite don’t-give-a-damn-about-time.
So NFL broadcasts have turned into American networks covering the Olympics?
I certainly get a kick out of watching people develop degenerative brain disease and I hate when they interrupt it with a picture of a young woman.
We can’t all be sophisticated people of culture like yourself.
Yah know, the typical 3 hour American football broadcast has about 10 minutes of actual football action. They gotta fill that time with stuff: announcer gibberish, 3 replays of every play, commercials, shots of the losing coach’s face, shots of the player who screwed-up and cost his team the game, replays of a gruesome on-field injury, a feel-good story, shots of Taylor Swift, promoting next week’s games, more commercials, etc.
Agree. More new and young eyeballs watching a football game, and all the commercials.
I don’t watch nearly as much football as I used to, but I swear at least three times a game – college or pro – the color commentator feels the need to share the unique insight that teams want to stay out of third-and-long situations.
Must be for the Swifties tuning in for the first time.
There’s always a long table with a bunch of bulky guys in fancy tailored suits discussing the fine points of a bunch of sweaty guys chasing a ball.
Did you also know that to win, you have to score more points than the other team?
Must also have lots of cutaways to reactions of players’ parents in the stands.
MLB’s equivalent of annoying reaction shots is the network (Fox in particular) showing silent fans with their hands clasped in prayer during critical moments. Don’t show 'em cheering, just praying.
The Mariners had a lot of players this year in their first game, with their parents looking on from the stands. A lot of shots of the parents. I actually don’t care. (ETA: I don’t care that they do this. I do care about the family’s big moment)
But both MLB and NLF (and NCAA) are unwatchable with DVR and fast forwarding through the breaks.