Taylor Swift is worth $331 million, and counting, to NFL and the Chiefs

“It’s really a perfect situation because you have this massive concert tour that took place [by] a superstar singer, and you meld that with a guy in the NFL, a top name athlete in the NFL [who] is semi high-profiled, and he got a lot of commercials, [he’s] well respected,” Eric Smallwood, president of Apex Marketing Group, told MarketWatch in a telephone interview on Monday.

“It was very unique and to compare it to anything, it’s very tough, especially in this day and age,” said Smallwood.

The company that has been in the business of sports and entertainment sponsorships and branding analytics for nine years initially tracked Swift’s impact for a day two last September, as “it was all the buzz for the next 48 hours,” he said. They then tracked Swift’s impact over time and last Wednesday did a “flush” from back to the 24th of September again, he said. The numbers were first reported by Front Office Sports.

What exactly has Apex tracked? “Any mention or visual photograph of Taylor tied to the Chiefs or the NFL. If the Chiefs are mentioned with Taylor in an article, then that’s a connection. If there’s a picture of her in the suite at the Chiefs game wearing a Chiefs shirt, that’s a hit as well,” he said.

And then they carry out so-called equivalent brand value, tracking exposures through every form of media, including radio, TV and social media. For example, every time Kelce touches the ball and the camera pans to Swift, that would have a value, said Smallwood.

“Numbers are not out on what the viewership was for yesterday, but you’ll probably have three times to four times the viewership, so three to four times the value of regular-season games…so that value is going to be a derivative of the number of people watching, the viewers. And the number of times she’s on the screen,” he said.

Smallwood said he’s done studies on previous brand campaigns that have gone viral, such Nike’s decision to put ex-NFL player Colin Kaepernick on a Nike. That ended up driving a 31% online sales boost, not to mention tons of social media buzz, data ultimately showed.

But the Swift/Kelce relationship is another level, as it has also increased NFL viewership, with numbers on playoff games that have been released showing much higher viewership than in prior years, he said. “And numbers are showing an increase in female viewers.”

Smallwood said plenty of “Swifties” are buying sports jerseys for the first time. Right after Swift’s appearance last September, Kelce jersey sales reportedly soared by nearly 400%.

And then there are the advertisers who locked in their Super Bowl ads, without knowing they would end up with a potentially star-studded audience, with Swift possibly leading that parade in Las Vegas on Feb. 11. The singer has a concert in Japan 24 hours ahead of the big game, but reportedly plans to still be there.

Paramount Global- owned CBS
PARA,
-1.09%
reportedly sold nearly all of its Super Bowl ad inventory last November, something that normally isn’t seen until nearly game time. Citing sources, Variety, said 30-second ads sold for between $6.5 million to $7 million. Budweiser’s
BUD,
-0.10%
embattled Bud Light will be among those looking to use the spotlight to boost its brand.

When asked if Swift could end up adding $1 billion to brand value for the Chiefs by the time the Super Bowl is over Smallwood said that was probably “aggressive,” and the tally will depend on “what takes place.” The San Francisco 49ers are slightly favored to win over the Chiefs, who would be looking for a back-to-back Super Bowl win, after a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023.

According to Forbes, the most valuable team in the NFL league in 2023 was the Dallas Cowboys, worth $9 billion, with $1.14 billion in revenue. The Kansas City Chiefs ranked no. 23, worth $4.3 billion, with revenue of $540 million. During 2022, the average revenue for the 32 teams rose to $581 million.