Taylor Swift Has Made The NFL Nearly $1 Billion Since She Began Dating Travis Kelce: REPORT

It's no secret that the NFL is profiting off the relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Exactly how much money the world's biggest pop star has generated for the league, though, is staggering.

Swift first became a regular at Kansas City Chiefs games in September 2023. Between then and Jan. 28, 2024 — that year’s AFC Championship game — she created $366,753,290 in total equivalent brand value for the NFL, according to data provided to MarketWatch from Apex Marketing. That metric measures value across all social media, TV, radio, digital news and print news.

But it didn't stop there. In fact, it didn't even slow down.

Taylor Swift has been a fixture at Chiefs games since September 2023.

(Emily Curiel/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In the year since, Swift has created an estimated $634,304,163 for the NFL, according to Apex. If you're keeping track, that means the music superstar has added about $1 billion worth of brand value to the NFL since Fall 2023.

"The ‘Swift Effect’ and the corresponding media exposure continued for the NFL and the Chiefs prior to the start of the 2024 NFL season," Apex’s Eric Smallwood said. "The media blitz continued as the Chiefs kept winning games and were featured on national broadcasts, leading into the playoffs and now the Super Bowl. Taylor was visible at games, and those appearances garnered media attention from sports-media outlets and those entertainment media outlets not normally covering the NFL."

The ‘Taylor Swift Effect’ In The NFL Is Undeniable 

Swift's presence at NFL games created a ripple effect. Not only did Kelce's podcast and social media following explode, but the social media followings for the league and the Chiefs have also skyrocketed since her relationship with the All-Pro tight end went public. This also translated to merch and ticket sales. The league said that female fans accounted for nearly half of its new followers on TikTok in 2024.

"Appealing to women and youth audiences has been a concerted, strategic focus for many years, and we saw a lot of momentum already happening, with growing fandom, perception and engagement among these demographics," Ian Trombetta, the NFL’s senior vice president for social, influencer and content marketing, said in a statement. "That further accelerated last season with Taylor, especially in social media consumption among 13- to 24-year-old women."

Taylor Swift takes in a Chiefs game with Caitlin Clark.

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

And all that extra money might just be paying off.

The NFL informed teams on Wednesday that the salary cap for 2025 would increase significantly for the second year in a row. The new salary cap — which is reportedly between $277.5 million and $281.5 million, according to ESPN's Dan Graziano — will allow many NFL teams to keep key players ahead of the upcoming season.

Sure, the cap typically increases every year. But the league experienced two of its biggest cap boosts in recent history in 2024 and 2025 — to the tune of $53 million.

And if Taylor Swift is the reason your team has the cash to re-sign all of its star players, then maybe seeing her on TV all the time isn't so annoying after all?