In the past few years, an interesting conspiracy theory has picked up steam. This theory postulates that the Super Bowl is “rigged.”
Depending on who is sharing this theory, this could mean either that the teams entering the final game have been predetermined—or, in more severe tellings, that the outcome of the game itself has already been decided long before players even hit the field.
This theory is not new, and the alleged motivations for this conspiracy change from year to year. Around 7 years ago, a user on Reddit’s r/conspiracy subreddit floated the idea, with some in comments speculating that the game could be rigged to appease betting markets. Then, two years later, another user debated whether the elements of the game could have been pre-decided to please advertisers.
Now, with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers making their way to the Big Game, internet users have floated the idea that the only reason the Chiefs made it this far was unfair rigging on the part of the NFL. The motivation, these people claim, is to bring a bigger audience to the Super Bowl thanks to the likely press coverage surrounding Taylor Swift’s participation in the game. Taylor Swift is currently in a relationship with Chiefs player Travis Kelce, and will likely be in attendance.
As previously stated, these theories are not new, and this isn’t even the first time that Swift has been caught up in an NFL-rigging controversy. Regardless, internet users have sought any opportunity they could to prove the idea that the Super Bowl is, in one way or another, rigged.
These attempts have included decoding the Super Bowl’s logo color scheme and looking for alleged “slip-ups” in which the teams entering the Big Game have been announced before such an announcement can be made.
Recently, another one of these alleged scripting reveals went viral after being posted to TikTok by user Alyssa (@alyssarenee001). In the video, a series of cookie cakes can be seen with logos for the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers on them, made before the true attendees of the Super Bowl had been announced.
“Guys?” Alyssa says in the video. “Does nobody else think that’s weird?”
Many in the comments section were quick to cry conspiracy.
“Yep the teams were already planned,” said a user.
“Yep script just been confirmed smfh,” echoed another.
@alyssarenee001 Script confirmed ✅ #baltimoreravens #sanfrancisco #football #footballtiktok #cookiecake ♬ original sound – Alyssa Renee
Of course, others were quick to retort that it was unlikely that the cookie cake revealed the Super Bowl script—and not just because it ended up getting the teams wrong.
“Lol yes the local grocery stores bakery has the nfl script,” joked a commenter.
“Won’t they be stale since the Super Bowl is in 2 weeks,” questioned a second.
That said, for other commenters, the fact that the “script” didn’t play out as planned was only further evidence of a conspiracy.
“They had to change it cause we all found out,” declared a commenter.
“They had to change who was playing because we figured out it was rigged,” agreed an additional user.
The Daily Dot reached out to Alyssa via Instagram direct message.
