Taylor Swift helps the NFL enjoy its best Christmas Day viewership since… 1989! Average of more than 29 MILLION fans tune in to see Travis Kelce and the Chiefs lose to Raiders

 

 

Taylor Swift was in the luxury boxes inside Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium and her presence at one of the biggest days on the NFL regular-season calendar helped the league pop a huge spike in viewership.

An average of more than 29 million fans tuned into CBS and Nickelodeon combined to watch the Chiefs’ 20-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, with plenty of the 12-time Grammy Award-winning girlfriend of Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce shown on the broadcast.

The 29-million-plus tuning in was a 29% increase from last year’s Christmas Day game on CBS. It also was the highest-rated game on the holiday since 1989 – coincidentally the name of Swift’s fifth studio album.

 

The Chiefs’ upset loss to the Raiders saw Swift comforting new friend Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The game peaked with over 37 million viewers tuning in to get a glimpse of Kelce, Swift, and others.

Taylor Swift has been to eight Chiefs games this year including on Christmas versus Las Vegas

Interest in Travis Kelce has skyrocketed since the tight end has been romantically tied to Swift

The 28.8 million viewers from CBS alone made Raiders-Chiefs the most-watched Christmas Day program in the history of the network. That covers football, Charlie Brown, and everything else.

Las Vegas’ victory denied, for now, the Chiefs an AFC West championship and a playoff berth.

Kansas City now has a 9-6 record, while the Raiders are 7-8 and looking to find their way back into postseason contention.

The Chiefs host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in their next chance to clinch a playoff spot.

Kelce and Swift have been publicly dating since a September game against the Chicago Bears

The Raiders defeated the Chiefs 20-14, bringing their record to 5-3 with Swift in attendance

Swift and Kelce’s relationship has brought the singer’s fans into the NFL’s fandom due to intense public interest about her personal life.

Kelce was seen hanging out with Scott Swift, Taylor’s dad, at one of the Argentina stops of ‘The Eras Tour.’

Kelce was already considered one of the greatest tight ends in football history and a first-ballot Hall of Famer before dating Swift.

Las Vegas versus Kansas City was also the fourth NFL game to be aired on Nickelodeon, with Super Bowl LVIII being the next contest to be aired on the children’s television network.

Travis and Jason Kelce tease the possibility of Taylor Swift appearing on their New Heights podcast this week as they reveal special ‘family’ episode with Kylie, Donna and Co… so will popstar join them on the show too?

 

Taylor Swift fans have been put on red alert after Travis and Jason Kelce teased a special ‘family edition’ of their New Heights podcast – raising hopes that she might make her debut appearance on the show.

The Kelce brothers released a Christmas episode on Wednesday morning, in which they teased an upcoming ‘holiday spectacular’ on Friday, with special guests aplenty.

Revealing the news, Travis said:  ‘We got a guest episode coming up… for you 92%ers for being so loyal and tuning in every single week and being such fans of the Kelce household, we have a Kelce family year end holiday spectacular. It’s dropping this Friday.

 

‘It’s going to be a revolving door of Kelce family members coming through to talk with us and we cannot wait to share it with you this Friday. It’ll be fun… we haven’t even recorded it yet. It’s going to be fun, it always is.’

Jason then added: ‘We’re going to ask the family members some of the questions you guys have been submitting.’

Taylor Swift has now appeared at eight Kansas City Chiefs games during the regular season

Taylor Swift watches Chiefs play the Patriots at Gillette Stadium

 

She has not yet been on the Kelce brothers’ podcast – though that could be about to change?

Taylor and Travis’ whirlwind romance has taken over the NFL – and the world – since September

Donna and Kylie Kelce are expected to be guests on Friday’s special family edition of the pod

 

The big reveal has sparked speculation that Travis’ high-profile girlfriend Taylor Swift could make an appearance, having spent Christmas Day with the family at the Chiefs star’s $6million mansion.

Taylor flew in from Nashville early on Christmas morning and watched her eighth Chiefs game of the season, but Travis and Co fell to another defeat against the Raiders.

The ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ hitmaker has now seen three losses in her last four appearances, but their romance is showing no signs of slowing down after they spent their first Christmas together.

Jason (left) and Travis (right) didn’t reveal specifics about who would be appearing on Friday

Jason Kelce teases Swift’s dad Scott for wearing a Chiefs sweater

 

Fans in Kansas City hold up special banners in support of the popstar on Christmas Day

Travis spent Christmas Day with his girlfriend – but will she appear on their podcast this week?

Monday’s game also marked the first time she had brought both her mom and dad to the game, with Scott Swift pictured sitting alongside Travis’ dad Ed in the VIP suite.

Travis and Taylor were then pictured leaving the stadium together after the game, and it is expected that she will also be in attendance for the New Year’s Eve game against the Bengals on Sunday.

After that, the Chiefs finish out the regular season in LA with a game against the Chargers, before moving onto the playoffs where they will hope to have another Super Bowl run, having lifted the Lombardi trophy last season.

Taylor, meanwhile, is enjoying some time away from her sold-out Eras Tour, with the next leg resuming in Tokyo at the start of February.