Why fans think Taylor Swift is behind the NFL's 'unprecedented' salary cap increase

The NFL announced a massive, $30 million increase to the league’s salary cap on Friday, leaving fans and front offices alike salivating over possible signings and trades this offseason.

The league didn’t provide much information behind the decision in its official press release, but gave enough of a peek into the league’s finances to lead fans back to one theory: that the increase is just the latest byproduct of the Taylor Swift effect.

Per the NFL:

The unprecedented $30 million increase per club in this year’s Salary Cap is the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the Covid pandemic as well as an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season.

You can’t blame fans for hearing the phrase “extraordinary increase in media revenue’ and not immediately connect it to one of the world’s biggest pop stars.

Taylor Swift single handily raised the NFL salary cap by 30 million. Epic.

— Daniel Romero (@dromero2014) February 23, 2024

If you’re celebrating the record-breaking salary cap increase today, make sure to give a BIG ‘thank you’ to Taylor Swift

— maikel garcia stan (@DontFireSpags) February 23, 2024

While there’s no denying the interest in the NFL grew this year thanks to Swift attending 13 games, the league actually benefitted more from quite a few other areas.

Among the NFL’s biggest revenue wins in the last two years:

• YouTube agreed to a seven-year deal for the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket for an estimated $14 billion
• The NFL launched EverPass Media, a new venture to distribute Sunday Ticket to commercial establishments
• Struck partnerships with DraftKings, Caesars and FanDuel
• Sold Thursday Night Football streaming rights to Amazon for $1 billion per year over the next decade

This isn’t to say Taylor Swift’s NFL Era isn’t helping the league’s popularity, but the money was expected to start pouring in well before her relationship with Travis Kelce kicked off last summer.

Between the new media deals and the repayment of expenses accrued during the height of the pandemic, the league is in a position to start spending more money than ever.