"Taylor Swift Effect" boosts ticket sales for upcoming Chiefs-Jets game
The so-called "Taylor Swift Effect" is not just boosting Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs, but other NFL teams. Swift, who appeared in Kelce's box at the Chiefs game on Sept. 24, is affecting tickets to the team's upcoming game against the Jets at Met Life Stadium on Oct 1.
Since Swift's headline-making appearance at Arrowhead Stadium – which she exited hand-in-hand with Kelce – fans have speculated that she might watch him play again on Sunday. In an attempt to be in the presence of the pop star at Met Life Stadium, fans have apparently been scooping up tickets, with several ticket sales sites reporting a boost.
StubHub, a ticket resale platform, saw a 175% jump in Chiefs-Jets ticket sales three days after Swift's appearance at the Sept. 24 Chiefs game, a representative for the company told CBS News. Nearly 20% of tickets for the Oct. 1 game were sold the night of Swift's appearance. The Chiefs-Jets game is also the second highest-selling game for the weekend, behind the Patriots-Cowboys game.
Other platforms also saw a surge in Chiefs-Jets ticket sales after Swift's appearance. Between Sunday, Sept. 24 and Monday, Sept. 25, ticket resale platform SeatGeek saw a 26% increase in average ticket prices for the Chiefs-Jets game, a representative for the company told CBS News.
Average ticket prices started at $168 on Sunday, jumped to $212 on Monday and continued to slowly increase. On Wednesday, tickets to the game were up an average $245.
Vivid Seats, another ticket sales site, confirmed to CBS News that prices for tickets to the upcoming Chiefs-Jets game increased 14% since Swift appeared in Kelce's box on Sept. 24.
Not only that, traffic for the Chiefs-Jets game page on Vivid Seats increased 173% and traffic to the Chiefs page on the site increased 126%.
And fans seem to be looking further ahead – traffic to the Vikings-Chiefs game page, where fans can buy tickets to the Oct. 8 game, have increased 121%.
There is value in having Swift at your stadium – average ticket prices to her Eras Tour shows at Metlife, U.S. Bank, Empower Field, Gilette, Allegiant and SoFi Stadium were 242% higher than the average price for tickets to Chiefs games at those same stadiums, according to a representative for Vivid Seats.
The news of increased demand for tickets comes after Swift was credited with boosting sales of Kelce's jersey by roughly 400%. A TikTok trend was also spurred from that moment: Swift fans jokingly ask their significant others and friends how they feel about the pop star putting Kelce on the map.
She has even made an impact on condiments. Swift was seen at the Chiefs game "eating a piece of chicken with ketchup and seemingly ranch," according to fan account @tswifterastour. Heinz quickly posted about a "Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch" combo. The condiment brand has always sold what it calls "Kranch" but the new limited edition of the product is an ode to the now-viral Swift post.
While several new examples of the "Taylor Swift Effect" have surfaced in recent days, Swift has made a big impact on fans in the past.
On Sept. 21, she urged her Instagram followers to register to vote at Vote.org – and 35,000 did, according to the organization's CEO Andrea Hailey. Another 50,000 verified their voter registration status.
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Caitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.
