NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said popstar Taylor Swift could perform the halftime show at Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara this February.
“It’s a maybe,” Goodell told Good Morning America.
“We would always love to have Taylor play,” Goodell said. “She is a special, special talent, and obviously she would be welcome at any time.” Goodell also said he’s “definitely a Swiftie.”
The commissioner said he’s “waiting on my friend Jay-Z” to be able to announce the halftime performer, as the rapper’s Roc Nation produces the show. A representative for Roc Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The NFL has consistently announced its halftime performers in September for the past several years.
The league announced Kendrick Lamar would play the Super Bowl LIX halftime show on Sept. 8, 2024, the first Sunday of the regular season. Usher and Rihanna’s announcements dropped on the third Sunday of the regular season in 2023 and 2022, respectively. And the lineup of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar was presented on Sept. 30, 2021, which was a Thursday.
The NFL doesn’t pay its Super Bowl halftime performers. The artists instead bank on exposure from the most-televised broadcast of the year. Usher, who performed in February 2023, earned an estimated $52.5 million in exposure on Super Bowl Sunday.
Swift recently got engaged to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and is about to debut one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year. She doesn’t necessarily need exposure from the Super Bowl, but the NFL would certainly benefit from having her. In her first year attending Kelce’s games, viewership increased among young women, retail sales rose reflecting Swift’s gameday styles, and many Swifties became full-on NFL fans.
Swift and Kelce broke the Guinness World Record for concurrent views for a podcast on YouTube when 1.3 million viewers tuned in to the popstar’s episode on New Heights, Kelce’s podcast with his brother Jason. As of Wednesday morning, the episode had 22 million total views on YouTube.
