The football world is buzzing about Taylor Swift. Without ever playing a snap, the pop star has become an unavoidable sideshow to the NFL season, the playoffs, and now the Super Bowl. Her high-profile relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has simultaneously brought newbies to the game of football and enraged the worst elements of the established football community, those oh-so-aggrieved that Swift’s mere presence is trampling over our American pastime.

After the Chiefs summarily defeated the insurgent Baltimore Ravens this past Sunday in the AFC Championship game, sore-loser Ravens fans cursed Swift in person and went so far as to tell her she is “ruining football.”

It is true that when Taylor Swift is involved in something she is impossible to ignore. Her star power shines a million times brighter than that of her beau. Which is a true feat: As one of the greatest tight ends of all time, Kelce will be a no-brainer entrant to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But Swift is far from ruining the sport of football, if football can even be ruined by one person, let alone someone who sits in a luxury box cursing, cheering, and eating chicken tenders.

A recent New York Times analysis even revealed that those seemingly constant camera pans to Swift have amounted to less than 25 seconds of airtime each week—and these are three-plus-hour broadcasts. And her name is barely mentioned by announcers, if at all.

Alex Kirshner

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But TV broadcasts should show Swift. She is likely the most famous person in the world—her celebrity is in the ballpark of that of Michael Jackson, the members of the Beatles, or the pope. And her sudden crossover on American broadcast television each weekend has naturally brought new football viewers into the fold. Football always brings in die-hards and casuals alike, and both populations—and everyone in the middle—are key to the ongoing success of the sport. If some people are tuning in just to get a glimpse of Swift, that’s great! I mean, why not? “Football is awesome, it turns out,” Swift told Time magazine. “I’ve been missing out my whole life.” Maybe some of her fans will end up feeling the same way.

Some Swifties were, of course, already tuning in to the sport. There’s certainly a massive middle of the Venn diagram between Taylor Swift fans and football fans—many Americans, such as myself, are fans of both. Sports fans watch for the stories, that’s a truism. I’m interested in the scripts on the field and off, and the plotlines that interlock. For fans like me, Swift’s presence is yet another exciting flourish in a yearslong saga involving the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs have emerged in recent years as a kind of dynasty in the NFL. Under the leadership of two all-time greats (coach Andy Reid and 28-year-old quarterback sensation Patrick Mahomes), the Chiefs have made it to all of the last six AFC Championship games, have headed to the Super Bowl four times in that period, and won two rings. Alongside Reid and Mahomes, Kelce is the third pillar of the team, having served as Mahomes’ primary receiver through most of the past six seasons. And, this year, the Chiefs could once again win it all—with Swift and Brittany Mahomes, who have become pals, cheering on the dynamic duo from the wings.

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What sports fans need to recognize is that Swift is now part of the Chiefs’ story. It’s strange, of course, that the most famous woman in the world has essentially shown up as a guest star on Season 6 of a successful television series, has barely delivered a single line, and is all anyone can talk about. (“You did that shit!” a fan yelled at Swift after the Chiefs–Ravens game. Swift, who does lots of shit, but not any shit relating to this football game, responded graciously: “I didn’t do anything!”)

But the story of Taylor Swift’s romance with Travis Kelce is proof positive that sports—and the stories they tell on any given Sunday—do not exist in a vacuum. To root for the Chiefs is to root for Reid, Mahomes, and Kelce, including the fact that they are human beings. All of them have significant others attend their games, all of whom are liable to do things like run down to the field to hug them after a big win.

If Kelce and Co. win another Super Bowl ring, their third in six years, if they continue their reign and conquer football once more, it will be because they played the game of football better than the 49ers that day. The cameras will surely pan, once again, to Swift and Kelce locked in a confetti-covered on-field embrace. It’ll be fan service, it’ll be must-see television, but it’ll also be part of the story of this game—and of this entire NFL season. Haters, feel free to just change the channel.