NFL Commissioner Responds To Taylor Swift Super Bowl Rumors

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell offered a “maybe” when asked if Taylor Swift will perform in February’s Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California.

Goodell said he couldn’t say “anything about” whether Swift was already in negotiations to perform, but when “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie asked if it was a maybe, Goodell said, “it’s a maybe.”

Goodell didn’t say when the announcement would be made, but in the past three years, the Super Bowl headliner has been announced sometime in September.

Swift hasn’t slowed down since wrapping up the multiyear international Eras Tour. She announced last month in a two-hour interview on Kelce’s podcast that her latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” will come out in October. With a football player fiancé and a new album, many think it only makes sense for her next move to be the Super Bowl.

Fans have been speculating that Swift dropped Easter eggs — something she’s known to do — about performing at the Super Bowl during her interview on “New Heights.” She spoke at length about baking sourdough bread — a possible nod to Sourdough Sam, the mascot of the San Francisco 49ers, whose stadium is where the game will be held this year. Or, it could have just been Swift talking about baking — something she’s also been known to do.

During his “Today” show appearance, Goodell also spoke about ways to make the game safer, like giving players an option to wear helmets with technology designed to result in fewer concussions. According to the NFL, only 30% of players who have access to new helmets designed for their position are doing so.

“I think what’s mandatory now is working with our players association and looking at the different helmets and giving them a choice — the players,” Goodell said. “But making sure that we take helmets out that really don’t fit the standard.”

Goodell’s comments on football and head injuries come just over a month after a gunman killed four people at a Manhattan office building, allegedly with the intention to target the NFL’s headquarters. The gunman claimed in a note that he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy that was caused by playing contact sports. One NFL employee was seriously injured in the shooting.

“There are no excuses for those senseless acts,” Goodell said at the time. “They’re hard for all of us to understand when it inflicts pain on people you know and people you care about and people that we deal with on a daily basis. That’s particularly hard.”