The Kansas City Chiefs have acquired quite a few new fans since 2023 — and the team’s owner, Clark Hunt, credits it partly to Taylor Swift.
“I think we had something, like, a 30 percent growth in our fan base, which is pretty significant, even for a team that won the Super Bowl,” Clark said while speaking to CNBC Sports on Thursday, Feb. 6. “So you definitely have to give Taylor a little bit of credit for that.”
The billionaire businessman added that the NFL’s fan base “took a big leap forward last year” overall, “particularly with female [fans] — specifically with young female fans.”
Clark also pointed out that several Chiefs games during the 2024-2025 football season have broken viewership records. “And I think Taylor’s a little bit a part of that,” he said.
Swift, 35, began dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce during the 2023-2024 NFL season. She is often spotted at games at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, and she was previously in attendance at Super Bowl LVIII, when the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22.
Hunt’s recent comments aren’t the first time that he has spoken about the 14-time Grammy winner.
While at an event for Athletes in Action in Ohio in June 2024, the CEO said, “We’re so happy for Travis and Taylor — what a great couple.”
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He continued to state that Swift was “absolutely” part of the Chiefs Kingdom, calling her involvement with the team a “great storyline.”
Hunt’s eldest daughter, Gracie Hunt, also recently opened up about Swift’s effect on the Chiefs’ fandom over the past two seasons.
“It’s been such a special time to have her be a part of Chiefs Kingdom. She is just as beautiful and wonderful as you’d ever imagine her to be, so smart and intelligent,” she said while speaking exclusively to PEOPLE in January.
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“Sometimes it feels a little bit surreal because you and I grew up watching her and falling in love with her music, and so did so much of the world,” she added.
The “Cruel Summer” singer was spotted in New Orleans ahead of Super Bowl LIX on Friday, Feb. 7, when she reunited with Kelce, 35, two days before the Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
Should the Chiefs win this year’s championship, they will become the first NFL team in history to win three back-to-back Lombardi trophies.
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