Taylor Swift growing the NFL and shouldn't be booed, Super Bowl champ Saquon Barkley says

Philadelphia Eagles superstar Saquon Barkley has expressed his bewilderment at Taylor Swift being booed at the Super Bowl, arguing that Swift's presence only promotes the sport. Since becoming romantically involved with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, Swift has become a regular fixture at games over the past two NFL seasons.

The attention given to the pop star during broadcasts has been amplified by snippets shared on social media, with some fans criticizing official channels for showing her too much. This seemed to culminate at the Superdome stadium before Super Bowl LIX, when cameras captured her and projected her image on the big screen, eliciting loud boos from a section of the New Orleans crowd.

Barkley, who was then preparing for his first Super Bowl game, which he and the Eagles eventually won 40-22, said he noticed the crowd's reaction. "They showed her on the jumbotron, and then she got booed," he said on the Howard Stern Show. "I don't get it. I don't understand why she's getting hate for being there. She's just there supporting her significant other."

Barkley believes Swift's presence is only a positive for the NFL. "She's making the sport bigger," he told Stern. "In football, we're all thinking 'how do we expand this sport and make it more international?'. We're going to Brazil, we're going to Mexico, and obviously we're going to Australia soon. We're trying to expand the sport, and her involvement is only helping that. So I don't understand why she would get dislike."

Barkley arrived in Philadelphia from the struggling New York Giants and made an immediate impact by breaking rushing records, contributing to the team's Super Bowl win. They faced the Chiefs, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Kelce—whose relationship with Swift has been a focal point since the middle of last season. In the 2024 game, the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in overtime, a game that was the highest-rated Super Bowl in history. With rumors swirling about Kelce potentially retiring, it remains to be seen how much longer the Swift-Kelce duo will be a presence in the NFL.