Taylor Swift Turns Down Super Bowl Halftime Opportunity Over Disrespect from NFL
After global pop music megastar Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce began dating in 2023, Swift became a regular and highly visible presence at Chiefs games — and the NFL was 100 percent for it. According to the
That term refers to to the boost in TV viewership, especially among women viewers, for NFL games created by Swift’s presence, an effect felt even at games that did not involve the Chiefs.
After Kelce, 35, finally popped the question in August, and Swift — who is also 35 — said yes, it seemed only natural that the superstar, with a new album,
Goodell Dropped Strong Hint of Swift Performance
In an interview on NBC’s long-running Today Show September 3, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell dropped a strong hint that Swift would, indeed, play the Super Bowl halftime show.
But he spoke too soon — at least according to a new report published Wednesday by entertainment industry insider Rob Shuter.
Swift appears to have called off negotiations to perform at the Febraury 8 NFL Championship game — a game which could easily feature her fiancé Kelce and the Chiefs who have played in
According to Shuter’s report, Swift felt disrespected by the NFL which refused to meet her usual conditions for a performance.
NFL Does Not Pay Halftime Performers
One of those conditions was money. The NFL doesn’t pay any. The league expects musicians to play the Super Bowl halftime show purely for “exposure,” and indeed a performance at the Super Bowl can be a career-maker, a certain seal of validation that an artist has reached true superstar status.
But Swift has already achieved a stratospheric level of stardom that puts her beyond that point.
“She wasn’t asking for favors, she was asking for respect,” said one music industry exec quoted by Shuter. “Taylor knows her worth. She knows the kind of ratings she brings, the global attention she commands. She wasn’t about to hand that over for free.”
The exec continued, emphasizing that “Taylor Swift doesn’t need ‘exposure.’ She wanted a deal that reflected her value.”
Swift Demanded Ownership of Performance
In addition to the issue of payment, Swift — who exercises a level of control over her career and her intellectual property not available to most music industry artists —
But the NFL said no dice.
“The NFL, along with sponsor Apple Music, had been determined to land her for 2026 after years of speculation. But with both sides refusing to budge, the deal is dead – for now,” Shuter reported in his newsletter.
“She doesn’t need the Super Bowl,” one industry veteran told Shuter. “But the Super Bowl absolutely needs her. Without Taylor, it’s just another halftime show.”
Given that data shows surges in NFL TV viewership
By failing to concede to Swift’s conditions, Shuter wrote, “the sense inside the industry is that the NFL fumbled the chance of a lifetime.”
Dale Moss Reveals Unseen Details on Kat Izzo & Sean McLaughlin’s ‘Really Intense’ Clash
Bachelor Nation fans know Dale Moss from Season 16 of “The Bachelorette” and Season 10 of “Bachelor in Paradise,” where he left the beach with Kat Izzo.
The two formed a strong relationship while on the show, but also faced some drama as Sean McLaughlin accused Kat about messaging a secret boyfriend during the season finale.
Now on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, Dale is opening up and revealing unseen details about that clash.
Disney/Bahareh Ritter
In explaining why Dale stood by Kat’s side and handled the situation the way he did, he shared, “For me, whatever situation happened it’s something that we could have the conversations and figure it out after the fact. I don’t think it was handled the right way. I would’ve never handled it in that setting, and yeah there were definitely moments where I really had to bite my tongue because I wanted to pop off. But it didn’t serve anything and it was less about me and it was more about Kat in that situation.”
Dale continued, revealing that the clash was a lot more intense in person than what was shown on the show.
He said “You know, regardless of what happened, I was going to be fine right? Like if there’s hurt and everything, that’s okay. But there was never a time where I was gonna try to throw her under the bus and pile on. But it was really, really intense in real time. I go for a walk and the entire group of everybody is walking with me. Sean comes over, Andrew, Jeremy, everybody and they were like, ‘We’re trying to look out for you. We just want you to be happy.’”
Dale went on, saying, “In all those settings, to,o I was like, ‘Look I don’t care what’s going on right now. All I care about is how Kat’s feeling and whatever else comes out, we can figure it out. But this whole situation, I'm just kind of done with it. So, you can say whatever you want, it’s not gonna change how I’m going to act. I’m grown, I’m fine. But I wanna make sure she’s okay and we can work everything else out and figure it out after the fact.’ So, I don’t know. I’m always going to go to the source, and it did create where we had to have some conversations after the fact but that’s all stuff that we can work out. We had gone through the whole ‘Paradise’ experience together, so we were gonna finish it together.”
Kat also chimed in, sharing her experience and revealing, “It was a lot longer in real time. Like, [Sean] was going for a while and that’s when I started to have a panic attack because I just felt so powerless in that moment. And it was less about what he was saying, it was more about the environment and where that brought me back to. I was just in no capacity to even speak to anyone and all I cared about was Dale.”
