Taylor Swift Will Have an Unexpected Role in the Chiefs-Bills Playoff Game
Whether Taylor Swift will be at Sunday’s playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills to cheer on her boyfriend, Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce, or not, she will be making an appearance in some capacity.
Buffalo Bills’ stadium caterer has custom-designed two appetizers named after the pop star’s songs for Sunday’s showdown. The Karma Quesadilla—a three-layer quesadilla filled with chicken tenders, bacon and cilantro ranch and topped with pork belly—is one option for fans. There’s also the Bad Blood Waffle Fries—spiced waffle fries two feet high, half piled with Kansas City Cattleman’s BBQ pork, coleslaw and bread-and-butter pickles and half with Buffalo chicken and blue cheese. The dish names play on Swift’s 2022 track “Karma” and her 2014 hit “Bad Blood.”
“We had a lot of fun with this week’s menu—adding a few new options that celebrate this incredible rivalry with the Chiefs and their star-studded fans,” Andy Altomare, caterer Delaware North’s general manager at Highmark Stadium, said in a press release that didn’t mention Swift’s name.
Swift, TIME’s Person of the Year who was picked for being the individual who shaped headlines the most in 2023, and Kelce have been dating since last year. Ever since then, Swift’s economic effect—where her massive, avid fan base follows her lead in buying whatever she promotes—has boosted the popularity and profitability of football, already a lucrative franchise.
The same day Swift was spotted watching Kelce’s game in September with his mom, his jersey online sales spiked near 400%, according to the NFL’s merchandise company. Now, each Chiefs game ignites intense speculation about whether Swift will attend and has inspired Swifties to buy tickets in the hopes of spotting her.
The NFL has seemingly capitalized on the interest, sharing clips of her at games on social media that have received millions of views.
Swift’s presence has at times triggered debate among football fans: After Chiefs’ losses, some critics asserted that Swift is distracting Kelce from the season, but other commentators have defended her.
“Nobody’s asking if Travis Kelce is distracting her [Swift] from a world tour,” ESPN sports anchor Elle Duncan said on her podcast at the end of last year.
