Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is all-in on Team Swelce, including the NFL’s frequent coverage of Taylor Swift at football games.
“I keep seeing clips of her high-fiving people, so I think it’s been a positive. It’s certainly been a positive for the league,” Cousins, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, January 17, while discussing his partnership with Tostitos. “I think there [have] been a lot of new football fans that five months ago probably weren’t following pro football, but now they are. I think that’s a win for everybody involved and hopefully, she’s around the game for a long time.”
Swift, 34, has frequently attended Kansas City Chiefs football games since September 2023 in support of her boyfriend, starting tight end Travis Kelce. Swift and Kelce, 34, began dating the previous July, making their romance public when she attended her first game.
Considering that Swift is a well-known pop star, the NFL has frequently shown Swift on the Jumbotron whenever she’s in attendance. Many fans — whom Swift notably coined “dads, Brads and Chads” in her 2023 TIME profile — lamented about her constant presence at the game. A handful have even blamed her whenever Kelce and the Chiefs lost a game. (The Chiefs are currently in the middle of their divisional postseason in a bid for a Super Bowl spot.)
“I mean, fans are going to be fans [and] maybe they blame her,” Cousins told Us when asked about Brett Favre’s recent comments to the contrary. “I don’t know if the blame is well placed, but I think a lot of the games she’s attended, they played really well and they won.”
Cousins, for his part, has played in the NFL for 12 years. He was drafted by the Washington Commanders (then Redskins) in 2012, six years before he was traded to the Vikings. Throughout his athletic tenure, he’s had the support of wife Julie Hampton and their two sons, Cooper and Turner. The Cousins brood, much like Swift, have had to learn how to deal with the NFL’s passionate fans and navigate the resulting media attention.
“I think you expect it. Fans are going to love their team at all costs, and I don’t take it personally,” Cousins said on Wednesday, referring to fans booing the families of pro athletes. “It’s just fans who love their team and it’s part of the fun of it all is getting excited, so you prepare yourself for it. You don’t have expectations that are unrealistic, and then when they ultimately do boo [you] or whatever it may be, you kind of shrug your shoulders and say, ‘Hey, fans got to be fans, and that’s part of it.’”
While Cousins and the Vikings have been eliminated from playoff contention, he has teamed up with Tostitos to cook a meal for a selected fan at Tost by Tostitos’ pop-up restaurant during the Super Bowl next month. (Super Bowl LVIII will be held at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, February 11.)
“[Tostitos is] partnering with the Super Bowl this year, the second straight year now of having a pop-up restaurant at the Super Bowl week,” Cousins said. “So in Vegas, they’ll have a restaurant open, it’s a free restaurant from Thursday through Saturday of Super [the] Bowl week [and] they’re doing a promotional deal on social media over the next several days.”
Between Thursday, January 18, and Sunday, January 28, social media users can follow Tostitos on Instagram, “like” the sweepstakes announcement and comment with their favorite game day dish along with “Tost by Tostitos” and “Entry” hashtags for a chance to win. The eventual winner will receive tickets to the championship game, as well as the opportunity to meet Cousins at the pop-up.
“So you get a trip to Vegas, a trip to the Super Bowl and a trip to the Tostitos pop-up restaurant,” he added to Us. “[This partnership is] a natural fit being a football player and how whenever [I] watch football … I’ve got Tostitos chips and dip in my living room like so many people in America.”
Limited reservations for a complimentary meal at Tost by Tostitos are available at www.tostbytostitos.com.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
