The Real Reason Taylor Swift Isn’t Performing at the Super Bowl After Not Feeling ‘Respected’ by the NFL—She ‘Knows Her Worth’
Taylor Swift might not be performing at the Super Bowl after all. According to some sources, the Tortured Poets Department singer declined the opportunity.
Rumors of the superstar headlining Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif., first circulated when Swifties noticed some apparent easter eggs in her appearance on her fiance Travis Kelce’s podcast New Heights.
Why Isn’t Taylor Swift Performing at the Super Bowl 2026?
Rob Shuter’s #ShuterReport Substack reported that the Super Bowl deal fell through because the NFL underestimated her.
“She wasn’t asking for favors, she was asking for respect,” a music executive reportedly dished. “Taylor knows her worth. She knows the kind of ratings she brings, the global attention she commands. She wasn’t about to hand that over for free.”
Heavy reported that Swift required the rights to full ownership of her performance, as well as advertising slots during the game in which she could promote her own projects.
“She wanted a deal that reflected her value,” a source said, adding that Swift “doesn’t need the Super Bowl. However, “the Super Bowl absolutely needs her.” They stressed, “Without Taylor, it’s just another halftime show.”
Super Bowl headliners don’t get paid for the performance. Instead, their income comes as a set of exposure since streams and album sales usually skyrocket as a result. “They expect the biggest artists in the world to do it for ‘exposure.’ Taylor Swift doesn’t need exposure. She wanted a deal that reflected her value.”
The first clue that came up was her talking a lot about sourdough bread, which became one of her “granny hobbies” during her break after tour. “I’m really talking about bread 60% of the time now,” Swift said. Some people found the number 60 is a reference to Super Bowl 60, and that if you look deeper, the mascot for the San Francisco 49ers is none other than Sourdough Sam.
Another number that was brought up was the number 47. Swift playfully responded to Travis’ brother’s enthusiasm by saying, “Thank you for screaming for, like, 47 seconds for me.” She also mentioned the number again when she was describing the number of countries she visited while on her record-breaking Eras Tour: “47,000.” (In reality, it was 21.) Fans snooped on which Eras Tour show was her 47th stop, and mindblowingly, it was at Levi’s Stadium.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Taylor is “welcome” to perform the Super Bowl halftime show and teased that a show for next year’s game is “maybe” in the works. “We would always love to have Taylor play,” Goodell said.
As for who might replace Swift as a frontrunner for the Super Bowl, Page Six reported Adele is currently in talks to perform at one of America’s biggest stages. She expressed interest in the Super Bowl when Rihanna performed in 2024. “Last year I went, obviously I didn’t go for the football at all,” she told her fans. I went to watch Rihanna.”
