Topline
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wouldn’t rule out a Taylor Swift Super Bowl halftime performance during an appearance on “Today” Wednesday morning, fueling the hopes of fans already convinced she used her recent appearance on the “New Heights” podcast to drop clues she’ll perform at Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara this year.
Singer Taylor Swift performs on stage during the Eras Tour on May 9, 2024.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Goodell said the NFL would “always love to have Taylor play,” but said he couldn’t reveal any details about the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show, which is being produced by Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation.
“I can’t tell you anything about it,” Goodell told “Today” host Savannah Guthrie after she asked if a Swift peformance was in the works, adding, “She is a special, special talent, and obviously she would be welcome at any time.”
Swift, who announced the track list and release date for her new album in a two-hour podcast appearance last month, made several comments that convinced fans she’d be the star of the Super Bowl LX halftime show.
Swift shared details on her “granny” hobbies like sewing purses and baby blankets, painting and her “very deep” sourdough obsession, and fans quickly noticed that this year’s NFL championship game is set to be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where Sourdough Sam is the mascot of the home team (the San Francisco 49ers).
Swift also said she’s “really talking about bread 60% of the time now,” and fans connected that the 2026 Super Bowl will be the 60th rendition of the event.
At the start of the podcast, co-host Jason Kelce introduced Swift using an impassioned intro listing her accolades and she responded, “thank you for screaming for 47 seconds for me.”Levi Stadium was the 47th stop on her record-breaking Eras Tour.
Swift also said, “That’s how it works in 1973!” when telling a story on the podcast, and fans noticed Superbowl VII was that year (she’s currently promoting the release of her 12th album) and that the Miami Dolphins, who use orange as a team color, played in the game that year (each of Swift’s albums has a color associated with it, and her upcoming “The Life of a Showgirl” and its album cycle are orange-themed).
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Key Background
Swift is famous for her habit of teasing fans with clues and Easter eggs hidden in her social media posts, music videos, interviews and other releases. In 2019, she admitted she’s “trained” her fans to scour her every move for clues, and on “New Heights” she talked more about the habit: “I have parameters. There’s dos and donts. I don’t do an Easter egg that ties to my personal life. It points to my music…it’s something you don’t know why I’m saying for a specific reason, but then you’ll look back and go ‘oh my god.'” She went on to cite the commencement speech she gave while receiving an honorary doctorate at New York University in 2022, saying,”I put so many lyrical easter eggs in that speech that when the ‘Midnights’ album came out after that, the fans were like ‘The whole speech was an easter egg.’ And that for me is really fun because they find it fun. I love numerology, I love math stuff, I love dates, that stuff I find really fun.”
Contra
Swift’s propensity to tease has also caused fans to generate wild theories that aren’t true. There was a fan rumor in 2024 that Swift was the true author of the novel that inspired the spy movie “Argylle” before Matthew Vaughn, director of the film, shut down the idea. “And there is an Elly Conway who wrote the book, but it’s not Taylor Swift,” he told Rolling Stone. “I did read the conspiracies, and I was like, Wow, they don’t leave a stone unturned! But it’s not Taylor Swift. She definitely didn’t write the book.” Earlier this year, fans became convinced Swift was going to attend the American Music Awards and announce the long-awaited re-recorded version of her 2017 album “Reputation” at the event, but she did not attend and the re-record has still not been announced. Fans’ “Woodvale” theory, suggesting a third Folklore sister album, has not come to fruition and the “Karma” album theory, suggesting a lost album between “1989” and “Reputation,” has also been largely debunked.
Tangent
The 2026 Super Bowl performer has not been announced, but there are several theories as to who it may be. Some have suggested Jay-Z could headline the Super Bowl 60 halftime show—Roc Nation has been producing the halftime show since Super Bowl 54—but other rumors have said he’s under pressure to choose a female artist “outside of the hip-hop world.” His wife, Beyoncé, has reportedly been ruled out as a possibility. Sportsbook Review, a betting analysis website, recently reported Swift is the odds-on favorite to perform, followed by Metallica, Post Malone, Jay-Z, Morgan Wallen, Miley Cyrus and Sabrina Carpenter.
What To Watch For
The NFL typically announces the Super Bowl halftime performer in the fall. Last year, the announcement was made in September.