SWIFT MOVES FOR SUPER BOWL WEEKEND

The NFL will have Lady Gaga in Houston for Superbowl LI, but AT&T just gained serious yardage, thanks to a new pact with Taylor Swift.

The superstar just inked multi-million dollar deal with the telecom giant for an exclusive headlining show—the night before the big game. The concert is part of DirecTV's Super Saturday Night, which is now in its 12th year, and will take place in a custom-made, 64k-square-foot venue in Houston. Swift will provide exclusive performances and other "content" through the arrangement, although it is unclear how much AT&T paid for this honor.

Already well known for her savvy marketing mind, Swift has long wanted to be the featured performer at the Super Bowl, which brings with it audiences north of 100m. But her endorsement deal with Diet Coke negates any chance of that happening, since the halftime show is sponsored by soda rival Pepsi.

According to AT&T, Super Saturday Night in Houston is one of many opportunities the company and Taylor will team up for in the coming months.

The new alignment certainly fits in nicely with her ties to Apple. Will the "content" portion of this new partnership include new music? Don't forget, just this past January, Samsung released Rihanna’s album ANTI as part of a sponsorship deal valued at around $30m. That could very well be the case here.

“We’re thrilled to reach a deal to bring Taylor and her unique talents to her fans and our customers in new and exclusive ways,” said John Stankey, CEO, AT&T Entertainment Group. “We’re excited to get event tickets into the hands of Taylor’s fans and exclusive content from the event to our customers and celebrate the combination of one of the world’s biggest artists with one of the world’s biggest sporting events. Now, would someone please fetch me a Bubble Up?"