Thursday Night Football host Al Michaels said the broadcast plans to keep the peace if Taylor Swift is in the crowd cheering for Travis Kelce at tonight’s Kansas City Chiefs game.
Swift, 33, is expected to attend Thursday night’s game between the Chiefs and Denver Broncos, Michaels said Sports Illustrated, “What we’re going to do tonight, everything in moderation.”
That’s the key word for tonight’s coverage plans, he says, if Swift is present. “Moderation. That’s our word. Everything in moderation. What are you doing at a certain time?’Here she is.’ Okay, I get it,” Michaels said SI.
The Amazon Prime Video broadcast crew held a meeting Thursday morning, Michaels said SIwhere they established: “You can’t do a sideshow the show,” regarding Swift and her rumored relationship with tight end Kelce.
“The vast majority of the audience watches a football game. There are people, I don’t know how many, it could be quite a number, but certainly not the majority, that if you pointed a camera at it all night, they would be happy with that. This is not what we do.”
Travis Kelce Talks With Taylor Swift And Co-Star Chris Jones Who Joked That The ‘Attention’ Was On Her In The Game
Travis Kelce Attends Netflix’s “Quarterback” Los Angeles Premiere; Taylor Swift attends ‘In Conversation With…Taylor Swift’ during the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
JC Olivera/Getty Images; Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Instead, the Thursday Night Football broadcaster said Swifties “might” see a “proper clip or a few” brief glimpses of Swift, unless situations call for more. “If Kelce scores six touchdowns, who the hell knows what we’re going to do,” Michaels said SI.
He added: “But for the most part, only in moderation. Game is still an important element here, very much so. That’s our thought. After that, make it, one of my favorite words, farcical.”
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After the NFL covered Swift and friends at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 1, even Kelce, 34, said the league “went a little overboard” with the attention on him and Swift during an episode of his podcast New heights with Jason and Travis Kelce Presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end admitted, “I think it’s fun when they show who was at the game. I think it brings a little more atmosphere, it brings a little more to what you’re watching.” Kelce added: “They are probably exaggerating a bit, especially in my situation. [But] I think they just want to have fun with it.”
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Taylor Swift, actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are cheering.
Elsa/Getty
NFL fans specifically called out the league for social media content surrounding the singer, including changing his Instagram bio to “The @Chiefs they are now 2-0 with @TaylorSwift13 present” and briefly putting Swift photos as your TikTok header.
In a statement to PEOPLE, the NFL defended its focus on Swift and said the social media changes are a normal part of their strategy.
Jason Kelce shares video of Taylor Swift fan calling Travis romance ‘betrayal’ for Eagles: ‘SERMON’
“We frequently change our bios and profile pictures based on what’s happening in and around our games, as well as culturally,” the NFL tells PEOPLE. “The news of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce was a pop culture moment that we latched onto in real time, because it’s the intersection of sports and entertainment, and we’ve seen an incredible amount of positivity around sports.”
“The vast majority of our content has remained focused on the game, our players and various other initiatives, including our alternative Toy Story Funday Football line-up, international matches and more,” they concluded.
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Source: HIS Education