The word “Swiftonomics” is a common term in the United States. The “Swift economy” or “Swift economy,” named after singer Taylor Swift, was estimated last year at $4.6 billion, including plane tickets and hotel expenses for the countless Swift fans who attended to their concerts, whose current ticket sales already exceed 780 million. The 34-year-old is such a phenomenon that newspapers like “USA Today” hired her own Swift reporters to report exclusively on her every day. And now economic experts predict: Swift will also bring additional profits to the Super Bowl. After all, her love story with soccer player Travis Kelce has already brought an extra 330 million to her team “Kansas City Chiefs.” Swift's euphoria in the United States seems limitless. Only Trump fans are increasingly becoming a thorn in the side of the Biden supporter. So much so that Republicans are now claiming that the love between Swift and the NFL star is “fake news” manufactured by Democrats.
It's not just the tabloids that are piling on about Swift's romance with Kelce. Even reputable media outlets continually report on her influence on the US economy and politics (and now the Super Bowl). The fact that Swift sat in the audience and cheered on Kelce in 12 of the Chiefs' 20 games this NFL season increased the value of her team by $331 million, according to analysis by Apex Marketing Group.
Since the couple has been together, the Swifties (that's what their fans are called) have also become interested in the Chiefs and want to wear Kelce jerseys. Even second-hand Chiefs jerseys became top sellers thanks to Swift. Since her love for Kelce, Google searches for Chiefs products have increased from 30 to 1,500, with the New York Times quoting a vintage store owner: “There are so many new fans thanks to Taylor Swift.” Swifties watch Chiefs games just to catch a glimpse of their pop idol. This helps the ratings and the cameramen during television broadcasts know it.
“Every touch of Taylor Swift causes an increase in consumption”
The Bloomberg news agency called Swift the “most charismatic CEO and most important economic force” and her fans the “world's most loyal customers.” According to the Los Angeles Department of Labor, Swift's six concerts in Los Angeles generated $320 million in tourism and tax revenue for the county.
When the Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on Sunday, the billionaire songwriter will once again cheer from the stands. Although Super Bowl tickets have long been sold, experts say Swift is likely to continue driving up prices on the secondary market. This also applies to hotels, restaurants and Chiefs fan merchandise. And although the cost of television commercials for this Super Bowl has long been established, larger audiences would drive prices up by 2025.
“Every touch of Taylor Swift causes an increase in consumption,” marketing professor Yakov Bart tells Northeastern Global News. Super Bowl advertising contracts have already been negotiated. But companies would certainly want to create a creative and clever connection to Swift, Bart predicts, like “American Airlines” and “United”: The airlines renamed the flight numbers on routes between Kansas City and Las Vegas to “1989 “, in reference to a Swift album.
Influence on elections fuels conspiracy myths
Her influence seems limitless: a single Swift post got 30,000 of her young fans, mostly women, to register to vote. (In the United States, only registered voters can go to the polls.) It's no surprise that Republicans increasingly fear the avowed Biden supporter, because young American women vote predominantly for Democrats. Speculation is growing louder: Were the NFL games rigged so that Swift could once again energize young voters at the Super Bowl, and possibly even campaign for Biden?
On Fox News and social media, Trump fans claim the Swift-Kelce relationship is fake and a “psy op” — a Pentagon and CIA “psy op” to keep Biden in power. Defense Department spokespeople were finally forced to clarify once and for all: “There is no psychological operation between Taylor Swift and the Pentagon.”
Still, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy posted: “I wonder who will win the Super Bowl. And I wonder if an artificially promoted couple will make great publicity for a presidential candidate.” The Trump supporter, who withdrew his candidacy in the primaries, reiterated in the NYT: “What you call conspiracy theories, I call a hodgepodge of incidents that are supposed to remain hidden but are pretty obvious.” It's not just comedians who joke tirelessly about “psychological operations” theories. The Wall Street Journal also recently asked: “What does it say about Donald Trump that his advisers think he could lose the election because of Taylor Swift?”