Rice sports finance expert examines ‘the Taylor Swift effect’ at Super Bowl LVIII and how the NFL is targeting women.

Amy McCaig - Feb. 8, 2024 Link to Rice News

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are all anyone is talking about heading into Super Bowl weekend, but how is the pop superstar affecting the National Football League ’s bottom line as legions of ‘Swifties’ become football fans?

Sports finance expert Carrie Potter, an expert on the topic and lecturer in the Rice University Department of Sport Management , is available to discuss Swift’s impact on the NFL. “The Taylor Swift effect is dominating headlines this week as Super Bowl LVIII approaches,” Potter said. “Her influence has created record shattering revenues for the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs and Travis Kelce, in addition to attracting an entire new genre of fans to the sport. A study in 2021 by the SSRS Sports Poll confirmed that 46% of the NFL fan base was female, the highest of any professional sports league in the U.S. With the Taylor Swift effect, there is no doubt that this percentage now well exceeds 50%.”

But who are Taylor Swift’s fans? According to Viberate, 78% are between the ages of 18-34 and more than 60% are female . “When you pair this with the fact that 85% of all purchasing power is controlled or influenced by women and that the Super Bowl is known notoriously as the biggest day of the year for advertisers, any ‘Blank Space’ that remained in the NFL sphere is now full of new female fans who will watch or attend the game, cheer loudly at every camera pan to Swift and drive record shattering revenues for the weekend that will grow the NFL’s bottom line and strengthen its position as the most valuable sports league in the world,” Potter said.

From a financial and fan growth perspective, Potter said the NFL fans with “Bad Blood” would be well advised to “Shake it Off” because the Taylor Swift effect is benefiting everyone in sports.

In addition to serving on Rice’s faculty, Potter is a financial, business and strategic advisor to professional and retired athletes.

Prior to launching Potter Advisors LLC in 2006, Potter was vice president of PMG Sports and Entertainment in Washington, D.C. She is an expert on designing and implementing financial plans and business strategies; financial statement analysis; investment vehicles; nonprofit financial management; and financial workshops for women and athletes. Potter is a Certified Financial Planner? and Registered Investment Advisor.

More information about her is online at https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/carrie-potter. To schedule an interview with Potter, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or [email protected] .