Taylor Swift is about to break the internet (again) on Wednesday as she appears on New Heights alongside her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and his brother, Jason Kelce. This is the first podcast appearance for the music megastar, and it's fitting that it's happening with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end by her side as well. Naturally, the Swifties are over the moon about the appearance (especially with the announcement of her new album), but some NFL fans immediately rolled their eyes at the news.
There's no question that the Kelce-Swift relationship has been covered quite relentlessly since the couple began dating a couple of years ago. Chiefs fans have not only grown to love them all the same, but they've also welcomed the swarm of Swifties who have joined Chiefs Kingdom as a result of their hero's relationship with Kelce. But outside of Kansas City, that feeling has been a bit different.
Anytime that NFL accounts or outlets talk about Swift, there is a contingent of football fans who get butthurt about it. They want football, not a relationship update or to see what Swift wore to the latest Chiefs game. And they have no problem voicing their displeasure. That was also true with the New Heights announcement that Swift would be appearing on the next episode of the podcast.
However, once the episode drops on Wednesday, everyone will understand the truth that Chiefs fans realized quickly: Taylor Swift being involved with Travis Kelce and the coverage and hullabaloo that entails is actually good for the NFL.
Travis Kelce haters will soon realize Taylor Swift is helping more than the Chiefs
To date, the most viewed episode of the New Heights podcast on YouTube was over a year ago when Jason's wife, Kylie Kelce, made her debut on the podcast, clocking in at 8.6 million views. Whenever the Taylor Swift episode drops, that will be the second-most viewed episode of the show — and likely by a substantial margin. There's a non-zero chance that the Swift + Kelces podcast actually sets some sort of YouTube record for a podcast. It's going to be madness and cyber pandemonium.
That's kind of the point if you're the NFL, the Chiefs, New Heights, or whoever, though. Whether or not you're a big Swiftie or not, the fact of the matter is that her presence in the sphere of professional football is helping to grow the league and the game. It's getting fans interested in watching on Sundays that may never have had any desire to watch before. It's putting more eyes on content and other things going on throughout the league.
In the simplest terms — and perhaps while stating the obvious — Taylor Swift is damn good for business. You don't have to go listen to Folklore or Tortured Poet's Society on repeat because she's part of it. However, if you love the NFL, even if you aren't a Chiefs fan, then you should certainly realize that anything that draws more attention to football and the league is a good thing.
And there's an argument to be made that nothing has done that more in recent years than Kelce and Swift's relationship. Her appearance on New Heights is only going to further that as Swifties won't just be tuning in on Sundays now, but will be tuning in to tangential NFL content as well. It's only going to further the growth of the overall NFL fan base, which makes the future of the sport even healthier.
The haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, but the Kelces and Taylor Swift are actually the ones helping the NFL more than the haters.
How to watch Taylor Swift's appearance on the New Heights podcast
The Taylor Swift episode of Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce's podcast is set for its debut at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Aug. 13. The episode will be immediately available on YouTube. If you're not a visual podcast person and would prefer to simply listen, the episode is also supposed to be released on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere you listen to podcasts at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday as well.
And if you don't have time to watch the full episode, rest assured that the highlights will be shared on X/Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and other social media platforms over the coming week.