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The Kansas City Chiefs may be considered the underdog of the 2024 Super Bowl by betting standards, but superstar tight end Travis Kelce and head coach Andy Reid are the clear favorites among NFL fans.
According to a poll conducted by Morning Consult and commissioned by the Beer Institute, “nearly one in four Americans (23%) watching Super Bowl LVIII named Travis Kelce as the player they would most want to drink a beer with.”
That percentage was actually greater than reigning NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes — who was a close second with 21 percent of the vote. While the top vote-getter of the San Francisco 49ers was running back Christian McCaffrey with just 8 percent.
Coach Reid also bested Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan by wide margin, per the Beer Institute.
“In a head-to-head matchup, 37 percent of respondents said they would prefer to have a beer with Kansas City Head Coach Andy Reid over 18 percent who chose San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan,” the press release relayed.
“Americans know all too well that the Super Bowl player they’d most like to have a beer with is the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce,” summed up Brian Crawford, president and CEO of the Beer Institute. “But no matter the bad blood between Chiefs Kingdom and Niners Nation, one thing we all have in common is that we gather with friends and family every year to watch the big game while enjoying some refreshing beers.”
Continuing: “Beer continues to be America’s favorite adult beverage and is the top alcoholic choice for Super Bowl fans because of its unique ability to bring people together, so wherever you are this Sunday, remember to drink responsibly and enjoy the game!”
The full results of the study can be found here.
Chiefs’ Travis Kelce Is Either Loved or Hated by NFL Fans
Although many Super Bowl fans would love to grab a beer with Kelce, he’s also become an NFL figure that is disliked and trolled more than any other player in the sport.
According to a different survey conducted by Sportshandle, Kelce and Mahomes tied each other for “most annoying player in the Super Bowl.” Both of the two KC superstars received 23 percent of the vote — which was strangely close to their “beer with” numbers.
22 percent of fans also “don’t think” that the Chiefs “deserve to be in the Super Bowl,” per Sportshandle. The raw data of this poll can be found here.
On a similar note, Kelce was recently named the NFL’s most trolled superstar in 2023 according to BetKansas.com, with “an astonishing 420,600 negative comments aimed his way in 2023.” Per BetKansas.com, this rate was “a whopping 5.5 times the capacity” of Arrowhead Stadium.
Mahomes ranked fifth in this poll, with 292,220 online troll comments from January 2023 through December 2023. You can find the full results of this BetKansas poll here.
Per BetKansas.com, Kelce “suffered the highest rate of trolling just a few months ago, on September 25th, after his romance with Taylor Swift became official. In fact, 53,640 ‘fans’ had something negative to say about the blossoming celebrity relationship.”
This trolling study was conducted by “social listening through the platform Brandwatch, [which] highlighted every mention of each NFL star online (X, Reddit and Instagram) over the past year and broke down how many of these comments were deemed negative.”
Chiefs, Travis Kelce Embracing Boos at Super Bowl
During Super Bowl media night on February 5, boos rained down on Kelce as he received the microphone.
That appeared to motivate the future Hall of Fame tight end, however.
“Y’all are firing me up, making me want to play right now, baby,” Kelce reacted on NFL Network and CBS Sports Network. “I love the boos more than I love the cheers baby, keep ‘em coming Niners Gang, keep ‘em coming!”
Mahomes and star defensive lineman Chris Jones were also asked about becoming the new villain of the league on opening night.
“I just like winning,” the Chiefs quarterback told reporters in attendance. “If winning causes you to be the villains, I’m okay with that.”
Jones also noted that “everybody used to love us,” but the game-wrecking defender admitted that’s not the case anymore.
“We used to be one of [America’s] most favorite teams, and now everybody’s like — ‘We’re ready for the Chiefs to lose.’ I don’t know why what changed,” Jones replied. “What dramatic incidents happened to where everybody felt like we should lose now? But that’s okay. They can continue hating.”
Like Kelce, it seems the Chiefs are quite fine with becoming the new villain of the NFL.
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