NFL Urged TV Networks to Run Promos for Taylor Swift’s Upcoming Movie for Free: Report

Kevin Sabitus/AP

Ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 4 game against the New York Jets, the NFL pushed networks to promote Taylor Swift’s upcoming movie for free, the New York Post reported Thursday.

Since Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce confirmed rumors that he was seeing the pop star — followed by her setting off a media frenzy by attending his games — the NFL has ramped up its coverage of the romance. It’s gotten to the point where football fans and Kelce are in agreement that the league is “overdoing it.”

According the Post’s Andrew Marchand, the NFL was actually trying to do even more. The league reached out to NBC, CBS, ESPN, and Fox to promote Swift’s movie, with ESPN and NBC obliging. NBC promoted Taylor Swift: the Eras Tour during its Sunday Night Football pregame show, while ESPN aired promos during both Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday NFL Countdown.

Neither Fox nor CBS promoted the movie as requested by the league.

The requests were sent out on Friday. Though Amazon Prime Video — which streams Thursday Night Football — was not included in that memo, Marchand noted that Swift and Amazon have a working relationship through Amazon Music. The Chiefs are scheduled to play the Denver Broncos on Thursday, Oct. 12.

In addition to the free promo for the movie, Sunday Night Football also featured a paid 30-second Swift commercial. Thirty-second ads typically cost around a million dollars, the report said.