Taylor Swift’s day at Arrowhead: Behind the scenes of FOX’s Chiefs-Bears game production

By Richie Zyontz
FOX NFL lead producer

Our weekend in Kansas City started out according to plan — overindulge on barbecue and prepare for a football game.

The rumors had circulated for some time, but were unconfirmed. Late Sunday morning, confirmation came in a swarm of messages: Taylor Swift would be in attendance at Arrowhead Stadium to watch her new friend Travis Kelce and his Chiefs take on the Chicago Bears.

I’m not exactly a Swiftie. Jonathan Swift, maybe; Taylor Swift, definitely not. Pop culture tends to avoid me like the plague. Our director Rich Russo has D’Andre Swift on his fantasy team, but with two Gen Z kids, is much more in the loop regarding the more famous Swift. He had already received texts from both with essentially the same message: “she’s coming!”

Around the same time, our announcing crew was milling around on the field, gathering last-minute tidbits. They, too, had heard the rumors. Greg Olsen yelled across to Kelce, who was in the middle of his warmup. Kelce then told Greg and Erin Andrews the rumors were true, “but you didn’t hear it from me.”

We knew right away this broadcast would be notable less for the game coverage and more for whatever images we captured of the pop superstar in attendance. Once Erin found out the location of Kelce’s suite — at the 15-yard line on the Chiefs side of the field — Russo relayed the information to his entire 17-person camera crew.

Celebrity sightings at sporting events are commonplace. At Super Bowl 45 between Green Bay and Pittsburgh in Texas, Russo captured a live shot of Cameron Diaz feeding popcorn to Alex Rodriguez. That came seconds after we showed John Madden and former President George W. Bush. Our favorite celebrity sighting was Larry David looking appropriately miserable amid the ear-shattering music during a commercial break at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles.

Earlier in the week, amid the avalanche of rumors, our bulldog associate producer Rich Gross had sought permission to use some of Swift’s music. Not a chance. Per the FOX music department, Swift’s record label and publishing company denied our request “in conjunction with speculations on or about her private/personal/dating life.”

The first time we peeked in on Kelce’s suite was during player introductions, minutes before the start of the broadcast. Swift was there, seated next to Kelce’s mother Donna, and they both erupted in cheers as the tight end ran out of the tunnel. We played that back on tape early in the telecast. After that, coverage became a matter of balance. Russo showed restraint not taking gratuitous live shots, saving the opportunities for when she reacted to action in the game. Her joyful expression after Kelce scored a touchdown was the image of the day, captured beautifully by our low end-zone cameraman Andy Mitchell.

MUST-SEE: Taylor Swift’s reaction to Travis Kelce’s touchdown for the Chiefs

Fortunately, our announcing crew is very in tune with modern culture. So the events of the day actually galvanized everyone’s mood. A blowout was overshadowed by a social phenomenon, to no one’s detriment outside of Chicago — even though it meant listening to Greg Olsen singing during commercial breaks.

This week we are in Dallas, where the Cowboys will face Bill Belichick and the Patriots. Taylor Swift is a tough act to follow, but maybe Jerry Jones will have a few surprise guests in his suite that our cameras can look out for.

Richie Zyontz has been an NFL producer for FOX since 1994 and the lead producer for the last 21 seasons. He has more than 40 years of experience covering the league and has produced six Super Bowls.