NFL’s Huge Salary Cap Boost Has Fans Saying the Same Thing About Taylor Swift

Kristen Wong | Feb 19, 2025

Taylor Swift celebrates with Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs after defeating the Buffalo Bills 32-29 in the AFC Championship Game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on January 26, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. / Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

All the dads, Brads and Chads are no doubt rejoicing after the NFL informed teams that the salary cap for 2025 would be significantly increasing for the second year in a row.

The new salary cap, which is reportedly between $277.5 million and $281.5 million, will allow many NFL teams to retain key players ahead of the upcoming season and will mean the cap has increased by at least $53 million over the last two years.

As painful as it is to admit, those Brads and Chads may have a certain pop star to thank for being able to pay their favorite expensive player. Taylor Swift, who first showed up at Arrowhead Stadium to support beau Travis Kelce at a Kansas City Chiefs game in September 2023, has reportedly generated nearly $1 billion for the NFL since then, driving brand value in areas like TV revenue, social media and digital news.

While it’s true that the NFL cap typically increases year after year, the league experienced two of its biggest cap boosts in recent history in 2024 and ‘25. Is it a coincidence that Swift was publicly dating Kelce during the seasons preceding those salary cap spikes? Probably not.

The "Taylor Swift Effect" has been well-documented since the Eras Tour pop star’s arrival to the league and will likely continue to gain momentum in 2025 and beyond—assuming she and Kelce remain together, of course.

Many fans wanted to see Swift get her due credit for helping the NFL grow:

Taylor Swift simply attending games helped with this a lot but the average football fan will still go batshit over the broadcast showing her for a couple seconds https://t.co/w7KM7BzqQ2

— ay (@spoonlocks) February 19, 2025

You can have your feelings about Taylor Swift but without a doubt she is probably the leading reason that the cap number keeps growing exponentially. https://t.co/RBhAFzRxRI

— Burghie (@houseofburgh412) February 19, 2025

Taylor Swift is the reason why most of your favorite teams will be able to make more moves now

— Nico (@elitetakes_) February 19, 2025

everyone say “thank you taylor swift” https://t.co/mpmhCSbLk0

— kenz (@ohsohighschool) February 19, 2025

she says you’re welcome https://t.co/BryaBibg2u pic.twitter.com/dFESQnsW6a

— ohmymymyhillary (@hillary_lee_93) February 19, 2025

it’s called the taylor swift effect and y’all should be happy you’re lucky enough to still have it (so far) https://t.co/xTnnPHhB3P

— veronica⸆⸉ | fan acc. (@thisisvertrying) February 19, 2025

Bills and eagles should be exempted from getting the extra cap space that Taylor brings and honestly the chiefs should get like 30% lol

— Ayo (@Yomiks1902) February 19, 2025

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