NFL executive extends invitation to Taylor Swift for Chiefs’ game in Dallas
The highest-rated regular-season NFL games each season are usually played on Thanksgiving.
That’s traditionally been a day for fans and casual observers to turn on a football game when not eating turkey. The most-watched regular-season game was the Cowboys-Giants contest on Thanksgiving in 2022 (42.1 million viewers).
Some think that record could fall this November when the Chiefs face the Cowboys in Dallas. It’s one of the eight standalone games for the Chiefs this season as they have a schedule unlike any seen in NFL history.
Mike North, the NFL’s vice president of broadcast operations, joined the “Up & Adams” show last week and was asked about the league’s focus on Chiefs games.
“Anybody who’s been watching football for the last few years know that the Chiefs have almost kind of surpassed the Cowboys, really as the bell cow,” North said. “And this is what happens when you’re (a) pop culture part of the fabric of the country right now. And this is par for the course for the Chiefs.”
Host Kay Adams said people might think the use of the words “pop culture” in North’s answer sends a message about superstar singer Taylor Swift. But Adams noted the league is only focused on the Chiefs seeking to avenge their Super Bowl LIX loss.
“Yeah,” North affirmed, “and if Taylor wants to come, we’ll make sure there’s a seat for her.”
Adams chuckled and North quickly added an open invitation for Swift: “And if she wants to sing, that’s good, too. We need an anthem.”
Here is North on the Chiefs and Swift, who is dating KC tight end Travis Kelce.
Later, North was on the Ross Tucker podcast and mentioned Swift again. North this time invited Swift to sing the national anthem before the Chiefs’ Thanksgiving game at Dallas.
It’ll feature the NFL’s top two teams in terms of television viewership.
“All credit for that goes to Hans Schroeder, our boss, the guy who runs the scheduling process,” North said. “He had the idea kind of really early in the process. To which, of course, the rest of us said, ‘No, you don’t need to do that. We don’t go big on Thanksgiving. You don’t have to.’ But his point, kind of like we were saying before is we have so many good matchups. You just look at the Kansas City schedule, right? And they play Dallas, and they play Philly, and they play Washington and Detroit and Buffalo and Baltimore. So many good Chiefs games.
“You could afford to spend one of the big ones, and probably doesn’t get any bigger in the league right now than KC-Dallas. They’re the two most-viewed teams in the league. That’s where most of our top games. What are we 93 of the top 100 most watched games (in 2024). Good chunk of those are Cowboys and Chiefs games. Put them together. Put them on Thanksgiving. Maybe we can get Taylor to sing the national anthem. We can get people involved beyond just us avid, hardcore football fans who are going to watch anything.”
Here is North saying the league would like to have Swift sing the anthem on Thanksgiving.
This story was originally published May 20, 2025 at 9:08 AM.
