Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift rejoice after the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Sport at M&T Financial institution Stadium in Maryland on Sunday.
Patrick Smith/Getty Photos
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Patrick Smith/Getty Photos
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift rejoice after the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Sport at M&T Financial institution Stadium in Maryland on Sunday.
Patrick Smith/Getty Photos
The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night time, successful the AFC championship and securing a spot in the Super Bowl. They will battle the San Francisco 49ers subsequent month, hoping for a repeat of their 2020 victory.
The sport is, as all the time, an enormous deal for followers of soccer, memorable TV commercials and elaborate halftime reveals. And this yr, one other fandom is becoming a member of in full pressure: Swifties.
As has been effectively established, history-making world celebrity Taylor Swift is courting history-making Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce. Her attendance at his video games all through the season has despatched NFL ticket gross sales, TV scores and Kelce jersey demand hovering, transformed scores of recent soccer followers and rankled some rivals alongside the method.
Swift has been a visual presence on TV screens and social media memes all season, whether or not she’s cheering Kelce on from his VIP field with an array of members of the family and movie star pals, leaving Arrowhead Stadium hand-in-hand with him or just having fun with a snack.
She was on the discipline to rejoice the Chiefs’ win on Sunday, the place her embrace of Kelce and interplay with coach Andy Reid made headlines of their very own.
“Taylor Swift nonetheless managed to be one in every of the greatest storylines from that sport regardless of not being on the discipline,” Nora Princiotti, a workers author at The Ringer (and a Swiftie) advised NPR’s All Issues Thought-about.
Naturally, Swift followers have been fast to marvel: Will she be in the stands at the Super Bowl too?
The reply is surprisingly sophisticated as a result of Swift has stadiums of her personal to fill.
Swift resumes the worldwide leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour simply days earlier than the large sport. She is scheduled to wrap up the final of 4 performances at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday, Feb. 10 — the night time earlier than the Super Bowl kicks off in Las Vegas, at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 pm PT.
Consultants say the reply is theoretically sure. And it will not take a time machine, only a personal jet. Fortunately, Swift reportedly owns two.
“This can be a typical worldwide flight and the turnaround isn’t very tight,” says Kevin O’Leary, the president and CEO of Jet Advisors, a Massachusetts-based plane acquisition, brokerage and analysis agency.
Warning: Issues are about to get nerdy.
How precisely Swift can “Come Again … Be Right here”
Swift’s present is scheduled to open at 6 p.m. native time and usually runs about three hours and 15 minutes. O’Leary — who isn’t a Swiftie however holds a PhD in aviation operations — predicts a punctual begin.
He says Swift may feasibly fly out of both of Tokyo’s fundamental airports: Haneda, which is roughly a 30-minute drive from the Tokyo Dome however requires particular permission, and Narita, which is about an hour’s drive.
“There can be some logistics [and] clearances earlier than the flight can be allowed to depart,” O’Leary wrote. “With both airport the flight ought to have the opportunity to depart Japan inside 2 hours of the finish of [the] concert.”
That places her potential departure time round 11:30 Saturday night time native time, or 6:30 Saturday morning Vegas time.
O’Leary’s calculations additionally assume Swift could be flying in her Dassault Falcon 7X (which has a barely longer vary than her Dassault Falcon 900, in accordance to The Athletic). He says the jet ought to have the opportunity to fly the 4,821 nautical miles to Harry Reid Worldwide Airport (KLAS) in 10 to 12 hours.
There are all the time doable issues, from climate disruptions to the anticipated problem of securing a touchdown slot at the airport, due to enhanced security procedures in anticipation of excessive site visitors that weekend.
But when all goes in accordance to plan, Swift would arrive in Vegas someday between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, Feb. 10, thanks to the time change (see this decades-old West Wing clip for an eerily well timed — no pun meant — clarification).
That would go away Swift with loads of time to relaxation earlier than the sport, although O’Leary says she may accomplish that on the airplane.
“The plane would usually have berthing seats for 4-5 passengers, so the passengers would have the opportunity to lay flat, comparable to a world enterprise class seat,” he explains.
Swift is aware of personal jet journey “All Too Properly”
The journey would price round $45,000, O’Leary estimates. It might generate greater than 87,000 kilos of carbon dioxide (CO2), in accordance to a calculator from Paramount Enterprise Jets.
However O’Leary says the Falcon 7X is one in every of the most fuel-efficient jets in the trade, burning 23% much less gas than the class common.
Swift is not any stranger to personal jet journey: She has logged days’ value of flights crisscrossing the globe for her Eras Tour reveals and Kelce’s video games in current months and repeatedly confronted criticism for the emissions these flights generate.
“Taylor Swift’s Jets,” a since-deleted Instagram account that screens her flights, posted in December that her journeys generated 138 tons of CO2 emissions in simply the prior three months. A spokesperson for Swift has stated that she bought “greater than double the carbon credit wanted to offset all tour journey” earlier than the Eras tour began in March 2023.
Followers flying industrial may discover a refined nod to Swift (and Kelce) on a few of the home flights headed to the Super Bowl.
Each American and United Airways have added flights between Kansas Metropolis and Las Vegas upfront of the Super Bowl, with becoming flight numbers: 1989 (Swift’s start yr and the title of one in every of her albums) and 87 (Kelce’s jersey quantity).
Swift can be rooting for “Pink (Taylor’s Model)”
The query of Swift’s journey timelines has prompted a little bit of a frenzy, albeit for various causes.
Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy fanned a conspiracy idea about the Super Bowl being rigged to doubtlessly give Swift — who drove a surge in voter registration with a single Instagram submit final yr — a fair higher platform to endorse President Biden, hypothetically.
Different reactions have been extra celebratory. Folks flooded social media with time journey jokes and jubilant “Traylor” (or Tayvis, or Swelce) movies. Late-night hosts speculated enthusiastically on air about Swift’s plans.
Followers have been fast to draw comparisons to Excessive Faculty Musical, during which the romantic leads’ championship basketball sport, tutorial decathlon and theater audition are all scheduled at the similar time. (Vanessa Hudgens, who starred in the film, endorsed the idea as “hilarious.”)
A few of the Swift-related questions will doubtless translate into Super Bowl bets, not solely about whether or not she’ll make it to Allegiant Stadium however what she would possibly do there: seem on display screen, be accompanied by different celebrities, get engaged, and many others.
Sportsbook Evaluate notes that the majority authorized, regulated U.S. sportsbooks “do not usually provide all these markets, however it’s doubtless they’re going to strive to capitalize on the further consideration Swift brings to the 2024 Super Bowl.”
Swift is not simply bringing the NFL extra viewers, however a complete new — and decidedly extra female — demographic of followers, Princiotti famous.
“The NFL for years and years has been making an attempt to courtroom ladies and courtroom extra ladies followers, and to be frank, they have not all the time been excellent at it,” she added. “They usually have kind of stumbled into this hyper-influencer who’s doing a variety of that work for them rather well.”
A Swift Super Bowl look would all however assure an enormous enhance in scores, with Poynter reporting that it has the likelihood to grow to be the most-viewed U.S.-based telecast of all time (even when she’s solely seen briefly glimpses, which a current New York Occasions evaluation confirmed has to date been the case).
The star-studded occasion may also characteristic pregame performances by Reba McEntire, Put up Malone and Andra Day, Tiesto as the first-ever “in-game DJ” and a halftime present headlined by Usher. Swift has reportedly turned that gig down twice.