On Sunday, Sept. 25, two unlikely universes were united: Swifties and NFL fanatics. In case you missed it, pop star Taylor Swift attended the Kansas City Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium to support none other than tight end Travis Kelce. Here is what you need to know about their budding relationship and how Swift ended up at that stadium.
Taylor Swift has been one of the biggest celebrity names in music since her self-titled debut album came out in 2006. Over the past 17 years, Swift has released 10 albums, each breaking numerous records. She has won an impressive 12 Grammys and 23 VMA awards and continues to succeed in every aspect of the music industry.
In late 2022, Swift announced the Eras Tour, an international tour that would cover most of her discography in a three-hour and 44-minute show. Immediately, fans were eager to get tickets. Getting tickets was no easy feat as millions of fans registered for presale and millions more waited for general sale. There was also the whole scandal of Ticketmaster making it nearly impossible to get tickets. Each concert was practically a fashion show as fans dressed up like Taylor, lines from her song, and other related references. In addition, fan projects quickly emerged as it was decided that people would make friendship bracelets to exchange at the shows. One of the people planning on attending this tour, and making bracelets, was Travis Kelce.
Newly out of a six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn, Swift was busy traveling the country from stadium to stadium. In July, she performed at Arrowhead Stadium, the home field of the Kansas City Chiefs. Here, Travis Kelce attended and later admitted on his and his NFL brother’s podcast “New Heights” that he had wanted to give Taylor a friendship bracelet with his number on it, but never had the chance. Here is where the real dating rumors began.
Over the next few weeks, Swift was mentioned on the podcast numerous times as well as in random social media posts by the Chiefs where Kelce’s teammates teased him about his new crush. These comments quickly escalated to the point where sports announcers were using Swift-related puns during the game such as saying Kelce found a “blank space” in the end zone after scoring, referencing the 1989 album hit.
Up until this point, neither star had commented publicly on this potential fling. That was until The Pat McAfee show where Travis Kelce revealed he put the ball in Taylor’s court, saying “I’ve seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead and you might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead.” This comment was of course referring to Kelce attending the famous Era’s Tour, and clearly enjoying himself.
Swift clearly took the invitation as she was seen on Sept. 25 at Arrowhead Stadium in box seating with Donna Kelce, the NFL mother of Travis and Jason. Swift was seen in supportive Chiefs colors celebrating when Travis scored a touchdown on a pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Since that day, social media outlets have been flooded with videos of the couple including them leaving the stadium together after the Chiefs defeated the Chicago Bears 41-10. This was a 31-point win, which backward is 13, Swift’s famous lucky number. Memes and celebratory pictures of fans continue circulating, especially on TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter). The general consensus seems to be that this is the next power couple of today and Swifties now have an increased interest in football. Will this be the next “it” couple?