Two weekends ago, on September 24th, the Kansas City Chiefs played the Chicago Bears at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. But this was no ordinary Sunday NFL game. Fans brought their football snacks over to the TV, but the game itself was overshadowed daily quickly as a few began to recognize a certain blonde pop star in the crowd, none other than Taylor Swift. Swift was shown watching the game in a suite belonging to the Kelce family, with Donna Kelce, the mother of Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce. During the game, Swift was spotted hanging out, laughing and eating, and occasionally Kelce shot some smiles up in her direction.
Before we get too involved with the details, let’s rewind a little bit. Back in April of this year, it was reported that Swift and her longtime partner Joe Alwyn had split up after six years, right in the middle of Swift’s world tour, “the Eras Tour.” This prompted plenty of rumors, with unknown credibility, of new men in Swift’s life. This went on for a few months, leading up to July 8th, when Kelce attended the Eras Tour show at Arrowhead Stadium.
Now, if you don’t know, Swift fans who attended the Eras Tour made a trend of creating and trading friendship bracelets, most of which state references to Swift and her song lyrics spelled out in letter beads. According to Kelce’s podcast “New Heights” which he records with his brother (fellow NFL player Jason Kelce), he made a friendship bracelet to give Swift at the KC show that had his phone number on it. This occurred during a lull in the rumors about Swift, so she was notably single. He also publicly invited Swift to attend one of his games. At the time, he was upset that he could not speak to her in person, but all went mostly quiet until early September, when the rumor mill rolled back around. This time, there were only a few whispers on social media, namely TikTok and X (Twitter) about the situation. But all of that changed last weekend, when Swift suddenly showed up to the Chiefs game, dressed in full gear, cheering with Kelce’s mother! That’s certainly one way to confirm rumors.
And to top it all off, Swift and Kelce were spotted together after the game, leaving side by side. They drove off together in Kelce’s burgundy (Maroon?) Chevy convertible, right into the Kansas City sunset. Talk about romantic! But that’s not even the full story. Reportedly, the pair went to dinner with some of Kelce’s teammates. Rumor has it that Kelce bought out the restaurant, paying for the meals of those who were eating there so they would leave. He and his friends then ate dinner together at the restaurant. Other reports mention that Swift covered everyone’s meals, but neither are confirmed. All we know is that the two seem pretty close.
Since last weekend, the internet has been abuzz over the news. “Swifties” have taken after Swift herself, who is known for hiding significance in her songs and release dates, by pointing out that both Swift and Kelce were born in 1989. They also noticed foreshadowing in some of her music, such as lyrics in her song Mary’s Song (Oh My My My) (which was released on her debut album all the way back in 2006), which state “I’ll be 87, you’ll be 89 / I’ll still look at you like the stars that shine.” Kelce’s jersey number is 87, which makes this prediction so sweet (or maybe just a coincidence). It’s definitely fate, in my opinion.
Luckily, we were able to learn some of the truth, as the Kelce brothers released a new installment of their podcast on September 27th. Kelce himself touched upon the topic lightly, stating, “Shout out to Taylor for pulling up. That was pretty ballsy. I just thought it was awesome how everybody in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her.” He also mentioned that his jersey sales went up 400% in the next couple days, and he gained at least 300k Instagram followers in that time, which is a testament to how dedicated Swift’s fans are. He also mentioned that paparazzi are gathering outside his house, which might only increase if Swift continues appearing at his games.
That does seem to be the case, at least for now, since Swift attended the Chiefs game this past Sunday, too, with a whole squad: Swift’s close friends Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, singer Sabrina Carpenter (who opened for Swift at some Eras Tour dates), and Sophie Turner, who recently divorced singer (and Swift’s ex!) Joe Jonas. There has been plenty of drama in the last month with members of this group of friends, but they are not afraid to come together and have a good time despite it all.
It’s unknown exactly how long Swift and Kelce have been seeing each other, or how serious the relationship is, but they’re certainly having fun, and the internet is not mad about it (Okay, maybe some NFL fans are mad, but come on, at least it opens up the NFL to a new audience). Stay tuned for more updates on this adorable budding romance!
Junior Emily Hanson is the Arts and Leisure Editor. Her email is ehanson@fandm.edu. Seniors Rohail Spear and Rachel Kolen helped contribute to the research that made this article possible.