Love her or hate her, Taylor Swift is dominating Super Bowl talk so much, people are taking prop bets ahead of the big game

The idea of paying $4,000 for a good Taylor Swift ticket has a lot of people angry. Image via AP.

In the months since Taylor Swift was spotted cheering on Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and as their romance blossomed into one of the most universally loved — and loathed — celebrity courtships, the internet has been ablaze with everything from nickname speculation to political bickering.

Now, “TNT” watchers can wager on everything from what Swift will wear to the Grammys and which awards she’ll capture to what time her plane will arrive in Las Vegas for the nation’s biggest sporting event of the year.

Online betting site BetOnline.AG has created 89 Swift-related prop bets ahead of her appearance at Sunday’s Super Bowl. The 89 is an homage to Swift’s birth year and her breakout record, 1989.

Prop bets, short for proposition bets, are wagers that don’t necessarily have anything to do with a game or other sporting event’s final outcome. This betting exercise takes that to the extreme.

“The Taylor Swift Effect is real as we felt it throughout the NFL season, and now at an exponential level leading up to Super Bowl LVIII,” BetOnline Sportsbook Manager Adam Burns said. “It truly feels like the Swift storylines have become bigger than the game itself, which is just crazy considering this is the most watched event in the world every year. But if anyone can set a new bar, it’s Swift, and we wanted to do the same with our props menu.”

The bets are broken into five categories, including Super Bowl-related pregame, halftime, in-game and postgame bets, as well as the super duper, has nothing to do with the Super Bowl and is-now-moot Grammy bets.

In that category, bettors were able to wager on what color dress Swift will wear to the Grammys. Red or black were the best odds, at +250, meaning a $100 bet would pay out $250. Neither won — she wore white. When asked simply whether Swift would wear a red dress to the Grammys, red was actually the underdog — still at +250, but far less likely than the -400 odds given to a “no” answer, which would mean any dress color but red and wound up being the winning bet.

The possible wagers in that category got pretty specific. Bettors were able to wager on whether Swift would win Album of the Year and Kelce score a touchdown in the big game. There, a no is the safe bet, at -165, while a yes will pay out much better, at +125. The bet is still in play after Swift did indeed win Album of the Year.

The same bet was available if Swift won Record of the Year and Kelce scores a touchdown (+170 for a yes and -250 for a no). Swift didn’t win in that category, so the bet is now moot. Same goes with Song of the Year and Kelce scoring a touchdown, at +300 for a yes and -500 for a no. That bet is also moot after Swift did not clinch the Grammy in that category.

The final bet in that category is on which will be higher — the number of Chiefs touchdowns in the Super Bowl or the number of Swift Grammys. There, Swift is the favorite at -200 while Kelce’s Chiefs are the longshot, at +150. It won’t be hard now for bettors favoring the Chiefs to score more touchdowns than Swift won Grammys, though. Despite walking away with the night’s top honor, Album of the Year, Swift only won two Grammys Sunday night.

In the pre-game category, bets include whether Swift will mention Kelce at at her Tokyo show; what time her plane will arrive in Las Vegas (an over/under of 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time); the color of Swift’s top deplaning in Las Vegas; whether Swift’s travel from Japan to Las Vegas will be shown; whether a photo of the couple will be shown; whether a photo of Swift at the Chief’s hotel at Westin Lake Las Vegas will be shown; whether Swift will be shown during the National Anthem; whether she’ll be shown during America the Beautiful; whether President Joe Biden will mention Swift during the pregame interview; who Biden will mention first, Swift or Patrick Mahomes; and whether former President Donald Trump will mention Swift on Truth Social.

The Halftime show categories are more limited, with bets including whether Swift will be shown during the show; whether Usher will perform one of her songs; who will appear on stage with Usher at halftime; and whether Usher will give Swift a shoutout.

The in-game betting possibilities are nearly endless, ranging from how many times Swift will be shown live (over/under of 5.5) and when she’ll first be shown to who sits next to Swift during the game and whether Swift will hug her beau’s mom. Questions even question what Swift’s lipstick color will be and how many pieces of jewelry she’ll wear.

Our favorite question asks “who will be shirtless first,” with the options being Kelce, Swift or the fiance of San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, Olivia Culpo.

The postgame bets ponder whether Kelce will propose to Swift (that’s at +1000) and whether if he does, Swift will say no (+10000). Less impactful longterm, bettors can also wager on whether the couple says “I love you” to one another on the field and whether they are shown kissing on the field. Bets get more specific, too, with questions asking whether Kelce will win MVP and propose and whether the pop sensation will don championship swag after the game.

Most of the questions, however, involve a hypothetical Swift/Kelce wedding, including how much her ring will cost, whether it will have more or fewer diamonds than the Super Bowl Championship ring, where the couple will honeymoon, who will be the maid of honor and when the wedding might occur.

No pressure, guys!

It all seems a bit silly, but then that silliness is perhaps a welcome distraction from the nastiness the young celebrity couple has faced in recent days and weeks. Swift, seen as a major influencer among young potential voters, has faced massive backlash from mostly conservative men. According to an explanation and analysis in Newsweek, Swift’s cohort of loyal followers, known as Swifties, are largely liberal Democrats, and she poses a threat to former President Trump as he seeks a return to the White House after his 2020 defeat.

That fear has led to social media vitriol and has even crept onto Fox News’ airwaves.

Instead, these betting opportunities put a fun emphasis on a performer who has become perhaps the most successful female businesswoman — one who is now a billionaire — of all time.

So whether you bet or not, enjoy this distraction from all of the hate online.