First the Super Bowl now LaLiga! Taylor Swift disrupts Real Madrid’s title plans

Robin Bairner

• 23 Feb 2024 07:01 GMT
• 4 min read

Taylor Swift could have a decisive role to play in the LaLiga title race, with Real Madrid’s final match of the campaign poised to be disrupted by the pop star.

Having been the star of the Super Bowl, all eyes in Spain are now on the musician and how she could impact the final weekend of the domestic league season.

Swift is unquestionably the biggest music star on the planet currently and will be taking her Eras Tour around Europe in the summer, with 50 shows planned for the European leg of the show over the summer.

She will only play one night in Spain, but it promises to be a huge one at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu. Tickets for the event sold out in seconds.

Swift is slated to play the concert on 30 May, just four days after LaLiga is scheduled to finish.

Relevo reports that Real Madrid have been forced to request their fixture against Real Betis will be played on the Saturday.

But there could be a problem.

The Nashville star has multiple tour dates in all of her other stops around Europe, with Madrid the notable exception. A second concert on 29 May has not been ruled out, and this is where there is a complication.

Her show requires at least three days of construction for the set to be safe. Another performance would complicate this with Real Madrid’s schedule in mind.

LaLiga typically plays its final fixtures on a Sunday, impossible for Los Blancos given the timescale of the proposed Swift concerts, yet in the past matches have been played concurrently depending on the stakes for the teams involved.

Clubs all battling for the title or against relegation, therefore, all play at the same time.

If Real Madrid’s game has nothing at stake, there would be no problem rescheduling to another time, potentially even Friday night. Six points clear at the top of LaLiga, the title might be wrapped up by then.

Not an unprecedented situation

Real Madrid’s request to move their fixture based on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is not unprecedented by any means.

Atletico Madrid have shifted matches because of the Rolling Stones and Guns ‘n’ Roses, while it has also been done with Athletic Club before.

Ideally, LaLiga would have scheduled Real Madrid for an away match, but the calendar had already been decided by the time Swift’s tour was announced.

LaLiga is likely to accept this request, with clubs encouraged to exploit their stadiums for commercial ventures as much as possible. Agreements like this, after all, help fund deals like Real Madrid’s reported agreement to sign Kylian Mbappe.