How Taylor Swift can get to the Tremendous Bowl from her Tokyo live performance : NPR

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift have fun after the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens within the AFC Championship Recreation at M&T Financial institution Stadium in Maryland on Sunday.

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Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift have fun after the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens within the AFC Championship Recreation at M&T Financial institution Stadium in Maryland on Sunday.

Patrick Smith/Getty Photos

The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday evening, successful the AFC championship and securing a spot within the Tremendous Bowl. They will battle the San Francisco 49ers subsequent month, hoping for a repeat of their 2020 victory.

The sport is, as all the time, a giant deal for followers of soccer, memorable TV commercials and elaborate halftime exhibits. And this yr, one other fandom is becoming a member of in full pressure: Swifties.

As has been properly established, history-making world celebrity Taylor Swift is relationship history-making Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce. Her attendance at his video games all through the season has despatched NFL ticket gross sales, TV rankings and Kelce jersey demand hovering, transformed scores of recent soccer followers and rankled some rivals alongside the best way.

Swift has been a visual presence on TV screens and social media memes all season, whether or not she’s cheering Kelce on from his VIP field with an array of members of the family and celeb pals, leaving Arrowhead Stadium hand-in-hand with him or merely having fun with a snack.

She was on the sector to have fun the Chiefs’ win on Sunday, the place her embrace of Kelce and interplay with coach Andy Reid made headlines of their very own.

“Taylor Swift nonetheless managed to be one of many greatest storylines from that recreation regardless of not being on the sector,” Nora Princiotti, a employees author at The Ringer (and a Swiftie) informed NPR’s All Issues Thought-about.

Naturally, Swift followers had been fast to surprise: Will she be within the stands on the Tremendous Bowl too?

The reply is surprisingly sophisticated as a result of Swift has stadiums of her personal to fill.

Swift resumes the worldwide leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour simply days earlier than the large recreation. She is scheduled to wrap up the final of 4 performances on the Tokyo Dome on Saturday, Feb. 10 — the evening earlier than the Tremendous Bowl kicks off in Las Vegas, at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 pm PT.

Consultants say the reply is theoretically sure. And it will not take a time machine, only a non-public jet. Fortunately, Swift reportedly owns two.

“It is a typical worldwide flight and the turnaround is just not very tight,” says Kevin O’Leary, the president and CEO of Jet Advisors, a Massachusetts-based plane acquisition, brokerage and analysis agency.

Warning: Issues are about to get nerdy.

How precisely Swift can “Come Again … Be Right here”

Swift’s present is scheduled to open at 6 p.m. native time and customarily runs about three hours and quarter-hour. O’Leary — who is just not a Swiftie however holds a PhD in aviation operations — predicts a punctual begin.

He says Swift might feasibly fly out of both of Tokyo’s essential airports: Haneda, which is roughly a 30-minute drive from the Tokyo Dome however requires particular permission, and Narita, which is about an hour’s drive.

“There can be some logistics [and] clearances earlier than the flight can be allowed to depart,” O’Leary wrote. “With both airport the flight ought to be capable to depart Japan inside 2 hours of the top of [the] live performance.”

That places her potential departure time round 11:30 Saturday evening native time, or 6:30 Saturday morning Vegas time.

O’Leary’s calculations additionally assume Swift could be flying in her Dassault Falcon 7X (which has a barely longer vary than her Dassault Falcon 900, based on The Athletic). He says the jet ought to be capable to fly the 4,821 nautical miles to Harry Reid Worldwide Airport (KLAS) in 10 to 12 hours.

There are all the time doable issues, from climate disruptions to the anticipated problem of securing a touchdown slot on the airport, because of enhanced security procedures in anticipation of excessive site visitors that weekend.

But when all goes based on plan, Swift would arrive in Vegas someday between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, Feb. 10, due to the time change (see this decades-old West Wing clip for an eerily well timed — no pun supposed — clarification).

That would go away Swift with loads of time to relaxation earlier than the sport, although O’Leary says she might accomplish that on the airplane.

“The plane would usually have berthing seats for 4-5 passengers, so the passengers would be capable to lay flat, just like a world enterprise class seat,” he explains.

Swift is aware of non-public jet journey “All Too Nicely”

The journey would price round $45,000, O’Leary estimates. It will generate greater than 87,000 kilos of carbon dioxide (CO2), based on a calculator from Paramount Enterprise Jets.

However O’Leary says the Falcon 7X is among the most fuel-efficient jets within the business, burning 23% much less gas than the class common.

Swift isn’t any stranger to personal jet journey: She has logged days’ price of flights crisscrossing the globe for her Eras Tour exhibits and Kelce’s video games in latest months and repeatedly confronted criticism for the emissions these flights generate.

“Taylor Swift’s Jets,” a since-deleted Instagram account that screens her flights, posted in December that her journeys generated 138 tons of CO2 emissions in simply the prior three months. A spokesperson for Swift has mentioned that she bought “greater than double the carbon credit wanted to offset all tour journey” earlier than the Eras tour began in March 2023.

Followers flying industrial may discover a refined nod to Swift (and Kelce) on a number of the home flights headed to the Tremendous Bowl.

Each American and United Airways have added flights between Kansas Metropolis and Las Vegas upfront of the Tremendous Bowl, with becoming flight numbers: 1989 (Swift’s start yr and the title of one in every of her albums) and 87 (Kelce’s jersey quantity).

Swift can be rooting for “Crimson (Taylor’s Model)”

The query of Swift’s journey timelines has induced a little bit of a frenzy, albeit for various causes.

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy fanned a conspiracy idea concerning the Tremendous Bowl being rigged to doubtlessly give Swift — who drove a surge in voter registration with a single Instagram publish final yr — an excellent higher platform to endorse President Biden, hypothetically.

Different reactions had been extra celebratory. Individuals flooded social media with time journey jokes and jubilant “Traylor” (or Tayvis, or Swelce) movies. Late-night hosts speculated enthusiastically on air about Swift’s plans.

Followers had been fast to attract comparisons to Excessive Faculty Musical, through which the romantic leads’ championship basketball recreation, tutorial decathlon and theater audition are all scheduled on the similar time. (Vanessa Hudgens, who starred within the film, endorsed the idea as “hilarious.”)

A few of the Swift-related questions will possible translate into Tremendous Bowl bets, not solely about whether or not she’ll make it to Allegiant Stadium however what she may do there: seem on display, be accompanied by different celebrities, get engaged, and so forth.

Sportsbook Evaluate notes that the majority authorized, regulated U.S. sportsbooks “do not typically provide these kinds of markets, however it’s possible they’re going to attempt to capitalize on the additional consideration Swift brings to the 2024 Tremendous Bowl.”

Swift is not simply bringing the NFL extra viewers, however an entire new — and decidedly extra female — demographic of followers, Princiotti famous.

“The NFL for years and years has been making an attempt to courtroom girls and courtroom extra girls followers, and to be frank, they have not all the time been excellent at it,” she added. “They usually have kind of stumbled into this hyper-influencer who’s doing plenty of that work for them very well.”

A Swift Tremendous Bowl look would all however assure an enormous increase in rankings, with Poynter reporting that it has the prospect to change into the most-viewed U.S.-based telecast of all time (even when she’s solely seen briefly glimpses, which a latest New York Occasions evaluation confirmed has thus far been the case).

The star-studded occasion will even function pregame performances by Reba McEntire, Publish Malone and Andra Day, Tiesto because the first-ever “in-game DJ” and a halftime present headlined by Usher. Swift has reportedly turned that gig down twice.