Melissa Etheridge thanks Taylor Swift for inspiring women of America to watch football
In a new interview, Melissa Etheridge retells the story of how she influenced Taylor Swift’s career and thanks the pop superstar for drawing more women to the game of football.
Etheridge knows — and loves — football. The Leavenworth, Kansas native is a diehard Kansas City Chiefs fan who has sung the national anthem many times at home games and often wears a Chiefs cap in her social media posts.
“Last year was the first time the whole family sat and watched the Super Bowl,” Etheridge told NFL Films Presents in an interview aired Wednesday. “And that included my teenage daughter and my daughter in her 20s.
“And I tell you, the only reason they sat and watched was doggone Taylor Swift.
“I gotta say thank you to Taylor Swift for bringing in the young girls of America, and the world, to football.”
Swift’s appearances at Chiefs games to watch boyfriend Travis Kelce play has had an undeniably massive impact on the NFL, whether Chiefs detractors like it or not.
Last season the league scored its highest regular-season viewership among women since it began tracking such things in 2000.
Swift’s association with the game has, according to some surveys, added about $330 million in brand value — the monetary worth of their brands — to both the Chiefs and the NFL.
Etheridge also spoke of her special connection to Swift, an anecdote she shared with Access Hollywood in 2017 — one that some Swifties are hearing now for the first time.
“I like to tell my children the story, there was a woman who came up to me and said, ‘You were one of the first concerts I went to when I was 11 years old. I was in Pennsylvania and I saw you play the guitar and that’s what made me want to play the guitar and sing,’” Etheridge told Access Hollywood.
“And that woman is Taylor Swift.”
Etheridge told NFL Films: “I use that with my children all the time. It gives me some cred.”
The Chiefs travel to Buffalo this weekend for Sunday’s highly anticipated (and hyped) matchup with the Bills and quarterback Josh Allen.
Fans expect to see Swift there. She kicks off the final leg of her Eras Tour in Toronto on Thursday, about 100 miles up the road from Buffalo. Her last concert of the weekend is Saturday.
.jpg)