Featured Image Credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images/Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Topics: Taylor Swift, US News, Travis Kelce, NFL, Film and TV, Celebrity, Music, Sport
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Taylor Swift, US News, Travis Kelce, NFL, Film and TV, Celebrity, Music, Sport
The amount of time the NFL coverage has actually focused on Taylor Swift has been revealed.
Look, it's not the pop star's fault she's ended up plastered all over the screens of multiple NFL games, the poor girl is just trying to watch and support her boyfriend in peace.
But how much has Swift really ended up on screen at Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce's games?
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Since being spotted on cameras sitting with Blake Lively on the sidelines cheering Kelce along, as well as snapped alongside Kelce's parents and smooching the man himself, Swift has come under fire from some NFL fans.
Despite Swift's appearances increasing the Chiefs' brand value, many viewers have said they feel like the coverage of the games is focusing too much on Swift opposed to what should truly matter - the sport.
"The wall-to-wall coverage of Taylor Swift at this game is annoying AF. I don't even like football and I agree it's destroying football. Just enough," one viewer wrote online.
At the Chiefs' AFC Championship Game against the Ravens on Sunday (28 January) to see who would make it to the Super Bowl final, Swift was even booed when she entered the stadium.
Kelce himself has admitted he thinks the cameras are 'overdoing' it a bit but how much of the time is Swift really focused on during the coverage of the games?
Well, The New York Times has revealed during the often three-hour long broadcasts of the games, Swift only makes the cut for less than 35 seconds at a time.
The breakdown shows Swift was spotted on screens three times on 25 December when the Chiefs took on the Raiders for a total of 14 seconds, then for 12 seconds on 31 December over three shots when the Chiefs went head-to-head with the Bengals.
The pop star was spotted five times on 13 January when the Chiefs played the Dolphins, totalling one minute and 16 seconds, another five times - for 24 seconds - on 21 January when the Chiefs played the Bills and finally on 28 January when the Chiefs took on the Ravens, Swift was caught on cameras for 32 seconds, picked up four times.
Coordinating producer for NBC's Sunday Night Football broadcasts, Rob Hyland, told the outlet: "It is always a balance with what’s happening on the field and how you can enhance what’s happening on the field.
"It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, let’s, let’s show her this many times.’ It was, ‘Hey, when appropriate, let’s remind the audience that she’s there.'"
And others have spoken out in Swift's defence too.
David Letterman took to Instagram to comment on not having 'witnessed anything like this' in the history of 'show business' and 'pop culture'.
He addressed both Swift and Kelce supporters, resolving: "I say to both camps, this is such a lovely thing. Shut up. It is good for the footballers, it is good for Taylor Swift and it is something positive and I am happy for the world."