How a giantess unnerves the world's biggest sports league

How a giantess unnerves the world's biggest sports league

Queens and princesses have always driven kingdoms mad. Time and time again. And they and their romances literally attract drama. In many different ways. Joan of Castile, mother of Charles V, also known as Joan the Mad, suffered from depression and delusions of love and dug up the body of her deceased husband, Philip the Fair, in 1506. "Bloody" Mary Tudor, the first regent on the throne of England, had more than 300 Protestant "heretics" burned at the stake in the mid-16th century. Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg became Queen of Sweden around 70 years later through her marriage to Gustav II Adolf, was considered moody, wasteful and angry and hung Gustav's embalmed heart in a gold box over her bed after his death.

Now the NFL also has a queen: Taylor Swift. The pop giantess. Tay-Tay. In US sport, American football is the only true kingdom, but this season the new monarch and her alleged love affair with Travis Kelce, tight end and superstar with the Kansas City Chiefs, is causing quite a stir in the sport. She is causing so much turmoil and confusion - Elsa from Frozen is nothing compared to that - in the most powerful sports league in the world that even Germany is not immune.

Because Swift-mania is real. Two of the absolute NFL heavyweights will compete against each other on German soil this afternoon (3.30 pm/ RTL). And yet the game between the Kansas City Chiefs, the reigning Super Bowl champions, and the Miami Dolphins, the league's best offensive machine, is dominated by the following questions: Will it come? Or is it not coming? And if so, when will it come?

Taylor Swift overdose

Tabloids and TV formats are going crazy. The greed for the superstar headline. Who will take the first photo when SHE really arrives? In the run-up to the Germany Game in Frankfurt, "Bild" comes up with an armada of "Swift puzzle" texts. Burger King caused a stir on Friday with a marketing campaign featuring a fake Taylor Swift. And the 34-year-old Kelce also has to answer press questions about his private life in Germany instead of about the NFL showdown. "If I reveal that, the odds change in Vegas. I'll keep that to myself," he says with a wink regarding the possible appearance of a woman who might be his girlfriend. Madness.

But as is the case with monarchs, the masses didn't vote for them. And the mob doesn't necessarily like them. After the initial positive hype, NFL fans around the world are now up in arms about the Tay-Tay overdose. Because Queen Taylor I and her "Swifties" are taking on the league, which is gratefully accepting the PR gift - the NFL made no secret of its Swift greed and even changed the background of its channel on X, formerly Twitter, to three Swift photos for a while - and pretty much nobody else knows how to exploit topics profitably. The NFL has 29 million followers on Instagram, the multiple Grammy winner 276 million. Because the statistics according to which Kelce runs twice as many yards when the singer is in the stadium only annoy viewers, as the number of games is still far too small for these figures to be of any significance.

Because Swift's reaction is shown on TV with every touchdown or catch, when all you really want to do is watch football. The NBC cameras panned to her 17 times during the Chiefs' game at the New York Jets in early October. NBC anchor Mike Tirico kept saying, "Oh yeah, she's here: Taylor's in the house," adding, "Hi Swifties, we'll be with you all night." A shitstorm ensued on social media.

Everyone wants a piece of the NFL pie

Although she is also shaking up football in Frankfurt these days, the new NFL queen will certainly not "destroy" the sport, as some users have complained. Because even in Frankfurt, one year after the German premiere in Munich, a football party is being celebrated. Millions of people tried to get tickets. An oversized Patrick Mahomes, superstar quarterback of the Chiefs, greets people at the main train station, many fans in different jerseys shuffle through the rainy city center and over the fan mile on the day before kick-off. Access to the "Champion Ship", the PR boat chartered by Kansas City, is completely sold out. SPD Mayor Mike Josef calls the NFL spectacle "a great thing". Who knows, soon he too will be looking for Taylor Swift?

Josef's city has also put up 500 flags advertising the afternoon event and displaying the NFL logo. It is clear who holds the reins this Sunday: the richest and most powerful sports league in the world. The Main metropolis is said to have spent almost two million euros on the supporting program for the NFL spectacle. A city as an advertising medium? At least one thing is certain: if it hadn't willingly forked out the money, the football league would have awarded the game to Munich, Berlin or Düsseldorf in the fierce competition between locations.

But everyone in Germany wants a piece of the football pie these days. With Swift greed or without. Because the NFL is also worthwhile. Last year, the Bavarian capital generated revenues of 70 million euros with one game. The NFL even marches into Duckburg: In the next issue of Mickey Mouse magazine, Kelce and Mahomes, among others, are "duckified".

Chiefs vs. Dolphins multiple duel

Despite all the hype and Swift-mania, German football fans - and that should be the focus - are in for a real treat when the egg sails through the Frankfurt air for the first time. In the duel between the Chiefs and the Dolphins, everything is set for a thriller, for a possible future AFC Championship final. Together with the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars, the two teams are the only ones with just two defeats and six wins to their name.

Decisive questions accompany the Germany Game: Can the Chiefs bounce back after last weekend's bitter defeat in Denver (the Broncos stadium played Swift's hit "Shake it off" after the final whistle)? And can the Dolphins beat a big team this season? Because that's also part of the truth: despite their breathtaking offense, Miami has yet to beat a team with a winning record; the other two top teams among their opponents so far, the Buffalo Bills and the Philadelphia Eagles, both defeated the Dolphins by wide margins.

The game also means several exciting showdowns: the one between two magicians, the well-known champion Mahomes against one of his challengers, Tua Tagovailoa. That of running back machines Raheem Mostert and Isiah Pacheco (Mostert (10) and the Dolphins (16) lead all players and all teams in rushing touchdowns respectively). And of course that of the NFL's fastest man, who is also currently the league's best pass receiver, wide receiver Tyreek Hill with Travis Kelce, Mahomes' primary target.

Where Queen Tay-Tay pops again. But super-couple or not. The NFL keeps planting itself in Germany and this time Frankfurt gets to show what it thinks. And fortunately, Taylor Swift probably won't have to dig up her object of desire like Johanna the Mad, even though she'll probably suffer a lot in the stands during hard hits against Kelce. Or will suffer with her?

1. Despite the ongoing Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce drama, the anticipated NFL match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins in Frankfurt am Main is generating significant excitement across the USA.
2. Taylor Swift's influence extends beyond the borders of America, as even Frankfurt's citizens are eagerly anticipating her potential appearance at the NFL game, showcasing the global reach of Swift-mania.

Source: www.ntv.de