Taylor Swift lands in Los Angeles ahead of Super Bowl: reports

Taylor Swift's plane touched down in Los Angeles on Saturday after the pop megastar wrapped up her show in Tokyo, putting her in position to attend Sunday's Super Bowl in Las Vegas, multiple news outlets reported.

She is expected to be on hand to cheer on her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Swift finished the Japan leg of her “The Eras Tour” with a sold-out concert in Tokyo and, thanks to favourable time zone changes, appears to have made it back to the US in plenty of time for the game.

It was unclear whether she would continue on to Las Vegas on Saturday or stay the night in Los Angeles, where she has a home, and make the one-hour flight into Las Vegas on Sunday morning.

The Super Bowl kicks off at 3:30pm Las Vegas time on Sunday (1.30am on Monday morning in South Africa).

The Anti-Hero singer will not be in the US for long. She is scheduled to head to Australia for seven sold-out concerts, starting in Melbourne on February 16.

Swift has attended 12 Chiefs games since she began dating Kelce last year, boosting the already sky-high NFL ratings. She figures to do the same if she is at Sunday's game.

Last weekend she won the Grammy award for album of the year for an unprecedented fourth time, and Kelce has said he wants to hold up his end of the bargain and bring home some hardware of his own.

The defending champion Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers in the 58th edition of the NFL's title game at Allegiant Stadium.

Sunday's Super Bowl is expected to shatter viewership records in the US and with an assist from the federal government, could be the most watched NFL game ever around the world.

The highly anticipated matchup will be shown in 190 countries and is getting a boost from the US State Department, which is hosting watch parties in more than 30 overseas locations.

“Basically the entire world is getting access to the Super Bowl,” NFL executive vice-president Peter O'Reilly told Reuters.

“It's a galvanising event that brings together those avid fans who are going to watch it at 2am in Ghana and the casual fan in Australia who may just be coming to our sport but will have the opportunity to experience it and learn the game.”

Sports diplomacy is reaching new heights with US embassies hosting watch parties everywhere from Chile and Cyprus to Rwanda, Turkmenistan and beyond.

“The NFL's Super Bowl is a unique opportunity to share American culture with the world,” a State Department spokesperson said.

“The US Department of State has collaborated with the NFL to host Super Bowl LVIII watch parties in over 30 locations in countries around the world.”

The NFL on Friday continued to push into new markets by announcing it will play a first regular season game in Spain in 2025 at soccer side Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

The league previously announced that it will also venture into South America for the first time next season with a game in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Sao Paulo will be one of five international games next season along with three in London and one in Munich. NFL clubs have agreed to hold up to eight overseas games in 2025.

“We always want to raise the bar, and we're growing in popularity in all of those markets,” O'Reilly said.

The NFL is also pushing hard to raise the profile of flag football, a discipline of the sport that is easier to access.

Flag football requires little protective equipment, with play stopping when a defender pulls a flag from the waist of an opponent, and is set to make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028.