Taylor Swift was attending high profile football games long before she began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. As has been well documented, Swift will be at the Super Bowl this Sunday in New Orleans, supporting her boyfriend and his team. Just as she has done all season long.
Her attending the big game will be part of a larger political “psy-op,” according to some conspiracy nuts on the fringe of the American political landscape.
But alas, we’ve laughed at that narrative enough already.
Let’s instead flash back to September 5, 2010, when Swift, along with her friend and fellow pop superstar Selena Gomez, attended Notre Dame football’s 23-12 season opening win over Purdue.
Austin, the brother of Taylor Swift, was a freshman at Notre Dame at the time.
Taylor initially requested to sit in the student section with her brother, but she was moved (along with Gomez of course) to the sidelines, for obvious security reasons, during the game.
Swift and Gomez have a friendship that has been well-documented through various public appearances, social media interactions, and mutual support for each other’s music and personal milestones.
Or at least that is what my nieces tell me.
Fun fact about being a college football journalist- most schools let you leave the press box early, to go on the sidelines for the final six minutes of the game. This is done for the purpose of getting expedited access to the post game media opportunities.
And I was on hand in South Bend that day, as this Fighting Irish win over the Boilermakers was very historic for the program.
It was the very first game of the Brian Kelly era. It also marked the only time that I have ever been in very close proximity to Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez. (Hence I was able to persuade a photographer friend/cohort to get me the pics that you see in this article)
You can ask my nieces about this.
I may have told them this story before, once or twice, okay three, four…many many times: “Back in ’10..when I was covering the Irish home opener, Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez…..(Grandpa/Abe Simpson voice)…and in those days media guides came in book form, not thumb drives.
And tickets we printed on paper, not just QR codes. But we didn’t have real paper to use then, cuz of the war. The Kaiser had stolen all our papyrus. So we printed tickets on crackers instead.”
And although this anecdote is 15 years old, it is still “news.” After all, a very large portion of Swift’s fanbase weren’t even alive when this game took place, so it’s definitely news to them.
These days the Swifties are more powerful than ever, as their icon sits on the highest throne of American pop culture.
People are even planning Taylor Swift themes for their Super Bowl parties this year.
She has a presence everywhere, even in local minor league hockey franchises.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.