Bill Simmons makes a bold Super Bowl prediction because of Taylor Swift

It's already one of the country's biggest events, but the popstar's presence adds a whole new element.

Jan 30, 2024 - 00:30

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Bill Simmons makes a bold Super Bowl prediction because of Taylor Swift

The Super Bowl is set. The San Francisco 49ers with "Mr. Irrelevant" Brock Purdy at the helm are facing off against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

But as all of America has already seen, this iteration of the Chiefs comes with newfound publicity due to the relationship between star tight end Travis Kelce and international popstar Taylor Swift.

Swift is arguably the biggest name on the planet right now, and there already reports of her presence earning the NFL and Chiefs hundreds of millions of dollars in brand value this season.

A quick look at the comments section of NFL's social media accounts shows that not all NFL fans have been happy about the coverage of Swift on television broadcasts, but there's no denying that it's also brought in a lot of newfound fans for the sport and even created a great bonding opportunities between fathers and daughters.

Chiefs games have hauled in record viewership, which could be attributed to the team's top stars and close match-ups, but the presence of the international star in the crowd has likely also boosted buzz.

With the Chiefs now a part of the Super Bowl — and with Swift expected to be there despite a concert in Tokyo the night before — Bill Simmons has made his prediction on what the Taylor Swift-effect will be for the live event most-watched by the country annually.

"This will the highest-rated Super Bowl we're probably ever going to have," Simmons said during an episode of "The Bill Simmons Show" posted on Sunday night. "There's all these extra Taylor Swift fans that are going to watch. There's five million extra people who have no interest in this game."

Simmons prediction could come to fruition even without Swift because of the pull of Mahomes, Kelce, and the Chiefs. Last year's Super Bowl LVII between the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles saw an average audience of 113.06 million viewers, which was already the second-most watched Super Bowl of all-time according to Nielsen.

The most-watched game was Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 between the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks which grossed 114.81 million average viewers.

However, Nielsen separates average viewership from household rating, which is a number that represents the percentage of households with televisions around the country that are tuned into the game. That number has actually been in the low to mid 40s for most of the Super Bowls since 1972 and in fact the last few years — including the 40.0 rating last year — have been some of the lowest in the history of the game.

For perspective, the 2015 Super Bowl that had the most viewers had a 47.5 household rating, and while that's one of the all-time highest ones, it's still lower than the 49.1 rating from 1982 which only averaged 85.24 million viewers.

Those numbers differ because population and prevalence of televisions have differed drastically over the last half century, and it's likely that Simmons' comment is more related to number of viewers than it is to the household rating.

Regardless of that, it's clear that the NFL has additional viewership ammo entering the Super Bowl, which is quite a feat for an event that on its own is already one of the world's biggest spectacles.