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LAS VEGAS – Roger Goodell will not accept the award for Best Screenplay.
Because the NFL commissioner, nor anyone else in the league office, Goodell said, possesses the creative skills to write a story as lucrative for the league as Kansas City Chiefs Tight end Travis Kelce hangs out with pop star Taylor Swift until the Chiefs’ date with him San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl 58.
“I don’t think he’s that good a writer, nor does anyone on our staff,” Goodell said Monday at his annual pre-Super Bowl news conference. “Listen, there’s no way I could have written that script. Let’s put it that way.”
Goodell rejected the more dire claims that the league helped ensure the Chiefs’ victories so the Kelce and Swift show could continue until the final game of the season.
“I think the idea that this was a script, that this was planned in advance, is nonsense,” Goodell said. “Frankly, it’s not even worth talking about. We see two people having fun together. That’s wonderful. I wish them the best. They’re both wonderful people.”
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In total, the 125 assembled media members posed four separate Swift-related questions to Goodell, a sign of how the Kelce-Swift romance has captivated the league since September. It has been generally positive, the commissioner said.
“Both Travis and Taylor are wonderful young men. They both seem very happy,” Goodell said. “(Swift) knows great entertainment and I think that’s why she loves NFL football. I think it’s great to have her as a part of this. Obviously, it creates a stir. She creates another group of young fans, particularly young women.”
How to keep new fans they might have gained is something the NFL doesn’t think about too much, Goodell said. Both of Goodell’s 22-year-old daughters are “Swifties,” and Goodell remembers meeting a young Swift in 2009.
“Our girls love Taylor Swift, but they also love soccer,” Goodell said. “They know a lot about football. So it’s just about welcoming people to the game. It’s giving people a different perspective on the game.
“People talk about the game. Whatever the reason, I’m fine with it. Taylor is obviously a dynamo, everything she touches.”
