Long gone are the days of “How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days” Andie Anderson having to pretend to know nothing of basketball and asking for a soda in the final quarter. Now, the coolest accessory anyone can have is a favorite athlete. Even though the Super Bowl remained the most watched program ever in the United States, averaging 123.4 million viewers, sporting events as a whole have been revived by pop culture. Despite male fans’ attempts to stay inside a niche realm, they are no longer a separate fandom and have been pulled into mainstream attention. While it may seem that all any fan wants is for their athlete, team or even sport to be the most talked about subject in the world, I find it quite the opposite. Whether it’s a lack of understanding by newer fans or a sheer superiority complex, older male fans loathe newer, typically female fans of their favorite sporting events.
While football in America is almost as ingrained in our brains as Thanksgiving, the sport’s most devoted fans are typically men, 69 percent roughly. Men do not need much to tune in. For decades, a football and two successful quarterbacks have been enough to have them sitting on the couch for hours. However, the NFL wants as many viewers as possible. The Super Bowl may be the biggest football event of the season, but the game sits on the back burner when it comes to celebrity sightings, big-budget advertisements, and even the halftime show itself. More eyes are on the game, not simply for the pigskin, but because of the overall spectacle of the event.
People have become so protective of their sport that it works against them and harms others.
The Super Bowl is an epicenter for culture, but regular-season games are reserved for true fans. Enter Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. The coupling of two of the most famous people in their respective industries has brought many new, mainly young and female, eyes to the Kansas City Chiefs and arguably football itself. Fans of the Chiefs and football enjoy a force in the music industry sharing common interests. However, Swift’s 54-second appearance during the 2024 Super Bowl caused some outraged fans to say she “ruined football.” An even farther reach from fans was the new consideration of the NFL as leaning liberal, corrupt and everyone’s favorite word: woke, because apparently 54 seconds of women equate to woke. Still, Swift’s appearances have not wavered this season, even with the debacle of AI-generated sexually explicit images centered around her arrival at a Chiefs game. That being said, new eyes on football were not well received.
Still, while some fans become protective over their sport, the newer fans’ love is much more lighthearted. Fans of Morgan Riddle have garnered so much attention for her and her boyfriend Taylor Fritz, who is currently ranked number five in the tennis world, that she was dubbed “The Most Famous Woman in Men’s Tennis” by The New York Times. In her profile, published last August during the U.S. Open, Riddle’s fashion looks were well-received by insiders and outsiders of tennis alike. Her largely female fanbase has followed her since her “(flashes) on screen” during Fritz’s matches to her recent hiring as host for Wimbledon’s website series on fashion. Compared to Swift, Riddle’s introduction to the tennis world seems subdued, prompting the question of why this is not the case for all introductions. People have become so protective of their sport that it works against them and harms others. While the deep fake images do not necessarily damage Swift’s image with her fans, they do force attention away from the plays and place an unwanted explicit spotlight on her.
Tennis is taken seriously and distractions during the match are practically outlawed. Yet, Riddle always catches eye. Fan interactions drive football, so the spectacle of Swift appearing should not be anything new to those fans. Fans should want success. They should want their team, their sport and their players to succeed. Newer waves of eyes, even if they are primarily female, should excite those typical male viewers. Instead, they reject it.
Liking sports is no longer some rare quality that differentiates some women from others, but is instead a talking point, like most cultural events such as award shows or film premieres. Does the hatred of women run so deep that men would actually reject a further push of their typical favorite pastime into the mainstream? Long, droning and frankly annoying explanations of simple plays have no reason to be dumbed down so a fan’s assumed girlfriend can understand. Women are liking sports, even if it is because Swift is in a box at a Chiefs’ game, or because they started watching tennis to see Riddle’s outfit.
While the heteronormative standard of men on the couch watching the game and women doing practically anything besides paying attention to the screen has a special place in the hearts of some bigoted fans, ultimately these sporting events are spectacle shows. The multi-million dollar budgets for halftime shows, the screaming jubilation of fans, and the typical breaking out in dance after scoring a touchdown all represents entertainment. It is a kind of entertainment that should never be so narrow-minded that a couple of wives and girlfriends could get in the way of genuine enjoyment. Whether you are watching for the scores, fashion or even the commercials, enjoy your sport, no matter whose feathers get ruffled.