This Kansas City Father and Son Thank Taylor Swift for Getting Entire Family 'Involved in the Game' (Exclusive)

When asked what made this Chiefs football season so “different,” the family had just one answer: “Taylor Swift!”

This Kansas City family couldn’t be more proud that karma is the guy on the Chiefs.

Chiefs fan Michael Nigro is a site development manager for a software company. He’s 36 years old, happily married to his wife, Nicole, and he’s a proud “girl dad” to their two daughters, Haley, 10, and Michaela, 9.

He’s also a fairly viral TikToker thanks to the reaction videos he posts of himself and his family as they watch the Kansas City Chiefs play football during the NFL season.

When the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in overtime during a 2022 playoff game, Michael captured the moment of victory on camera. He and his father, Mike, 59, embraced and celebrated in their living room.

In fact, most of the reaction videos feature the father and son, who have been Chiefs fans their whole lives.

Related: Taylor Swift Thanks 'Louder Than Humanly Possible' Crowds in Sydney After 4 Eras Tour Shows: 'Endless Magical Moments'

This year, however, the family video looked a little different when the same team took home their second consecutive Super Bowl victory, thanks to Taylor Swift.

Not only were Michael and his father there to celebrate, but so were the family Swifties: Michael’s daughters, Haley and Michaela, Michael’s sister Michaela and his niece Sawyer, 10, (plus his nephew Finn, 8, who deserves a shoutout for his support even though he falls lower on the diehard Swiftie list than his female relatives).

The entire family is visibly clad in Chiefs gear — some of the girls even have on custom-made 87 jerseys for Travis Kelce that read “SWIFT” on the back.

“Taylor showed up to support us and became a part of Chiefs Kingdom, and we really latched onto her as well,” says Michael of the phenomenon surrounding the global star. “As the cousins got a little older, they all went into the playroom and ignored the game. And you can kind of see that in some previous videos where it's just kind of my dad and my sister and me, or just Dad and me. And then this year was different.”

From the moment Swift appeared at her first Chiefs game on September 23rd, Michael knew this season was going to be special.

“When she first showed up, I called my sister because I knew Kala was on about a 40-second delay with YouTube TV compared to me. And I said, ‘Are you sitting down?’ And she goes, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Taylor Swift is at the game right now.’ All she said was, ‘Shut up. I don't believe you,’ and hung up on me,” recalls Michael. “40 seconds later, I get a text, just all caps, ‘ARE YOU KIDDING ME?’ And from there, this was a completely different animal of a season for us.”

Aunt Kala is a proud Swiftie — she went to both Kansas City shows at Arrowhead Stadium on Swift’s Eras Tour in July 2023, and she can't pick a favorite song, no matter how many times you ask her. She insists her answer changes daily.

Related: Chiefs' Mecole Hardman Reveals What Taylor Swift Told Him After His 2024 Super Bowl Game-Winning Touchdown Catch

“I’m diehard. So Sawyer, my daughter, obviously all she knows is Taylor Swift. That's all we listen to. And now, my brother's daughters, Haley and Kala, I've introduced them to all that," she says. "They went to the concert. They are diehard now, as they should be."

Kala, 35, grew up a Chiefs fan alongside her brother and her dad, but she says having two of her biggest passions come together and being able to share the experience with her daughter and nieces was beyond her "Wildest Dreams."

"I'm a big Chiefs fan and Swiftie and it all came together. Both of my worlds are colliding. It was just surreal. The whole season was fun. I always have fun with my [dad and brother], we've always watched the games together. But this was different," she says.

“I would always text Michael and be like, 'Okay, Taylor Swift has landed here. Will she be at this game? What is she going to wear?' When her and Brittany [Mahomes] came in with those jackets, that got the kids pumped. My nieces and my daughter would message me ‘What is she wearing today?’ ” she recalls.

Mike, affectionately called Pops, is struck mostly by how many new memories he made with his entire family over the last few months, thanks to Swift.

“It was a season to remember,” he muses. "We were watching a lot of the last few games of the season together too, and [the granddaughters] kept wanting to see Taylor because the camera kept panning to her. And then as we got in the playoffs and it got more intense and every play mattered, they got involved in the game just as much as we did. And you could see that. We slowed down [one of Michael's videos] and looked at it and the kids are into it just as much as we are," he says.

For a family that is already close-knit, being able to add witnessing the Chiefs secure another Super Bowl win to the list of memories is an experience Mike won't ever forget.

"We're a close family to begin with. We do a lot together, but this really warmed my heart even more. It was really just a pure, righteous, unfiltered, joyful moment for us," he says. "And I just wanted to enjoy it with all of them, wanted to make sure my grandkids were feeling it. It was a blessing."

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And while Swift’s effect may have created a few new football fans in the girls, she also won over the family patriarch.

“Just to put it into perspective, too, I haven't watched the Grammys since Michael Jackson was big, but the wife and I were watching the Grammys that night because we wanted to see if Taylor won,” Mike says, smiling. “Taylor is part of Chiefs Kingdom. And she's welcome. She's part of it now.”

As for Michael? He may chronicle a lot of the family's big moments online, but he says that the moments behind the scenes remain equally as special.

“What you don't see is the girls wanting to go get Chiefs gear, the girls wanting to wear their Travis Kelce jerseys to school, the girls bragging how everybody complimented the Chiefs shirt they wore today,” he says proudly. “They went from it being normal to them just to wear a Chiefs jersey on Red Friday to where this was something that carried a level of pride for them.”

In the end, the Nigro family will be the first to attest that the Taylor Swift effect is real. Even weeks after the big Super Bowl win, they're still filled with gratitude.

Says Michael: "There's no other way that I think a Chiefs fan could remember this season."

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