Dating the boy on the football team / “Kelce’s greatest catch of all time” 

Lauren Ceballos/Sports Editor

     Dear reader, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and Kansas City Tight End Travis Kelce formed an alleged relationship that broke the internet. At Swift’s concerts, a trend fans made was making friendship bracelets to trade due to the line in her song “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” saying, “So make the friendship bracelets.” During a stop on Swift’s most recent concert tour, the Eras tour, in Kansas City during July of 2023, Kelce plotted to give the star a friendship bracelet with his number on it. Kelce’s attempt at being a mastermind failed, or so fans thought, until Sept. 21, 2023, on The Pat McAfee show.

     “I told her, you know, ‘I’ve seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage [Stadium] in Arrowhead and see which one’s a little more lit,’” Kelce said. “So we’ll see what happens in the near future.”

     Swift was spotted the very first night in a suite at the Kansas City Chiefs game on Sept. 24, with Tight End Travis Kelce’s mom, Donna Kelce. During the third week of the NFL’s season, when the Chiefs played the Chicago Bears with a final score of 41-10 for the Chiefs’ victory.

     This love stormed the media ever since Swift’s premiere with the NFL. In the “New Heights” podcast with Travis and his brother, Jason Kelce, the center for the Philadelphia Eagles, Jason asked Travis, “how does it feel now that Taylor Swift put you on the map?”

     Travis responded, “she looked amazing, everybody was talking about her in great light, and – on top of that – the day went perfect for Chiefs fans, of course. We script it all, ladies and gentlemen, but to see the slow motion chest bumps, to see the high-fives with mom, to see how the Chief’s kingdom was all excited that she was there, that s*** was absolutely hysterical. It’s definitely a game I’ll remember that’s for d*** sure. And then we just slid off in the getaway car at the end,” Travis Kelce said.

     During the podcast, the two referenced how everyone is talking about the sparks flying between the two-time Super Bowl winner and the 12-time Grammy winner.

     “Everyone, literally everyone, even Bill Belichick, he hasn’t talked much about anything

outside of game weeks that we’ve played, but he made sure to remind me that that’s the best catch that I’ve ever had in my life,” Travis Kelce said.

     USD first-year student Ethan Gaston shared his opinion on the relationship.

     “I think he’s a great player. I think he is just getting a lot more attention because he is dating a massive popstar that has a lot of fans and is beloved by a very large fan base,” Gaston said.

     Swift first appeared as a Kelce fan during a very successful game for the Chiefs. With seven minutes and 40 seconds left in the third quarter, Kelce scored a touchdown off a three yard pass from Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, scoring the team six points that was topped off by Harrison Butker with a complete kick. Taylor Swift was later spotted again at the Chief’s game on Oct. 1 against the New York Jets, where the chiefs won 23-20. Spotted with notable friends, including actress Blake Lively, Swift was seen enjoying herself and caught hugging Donna Kelce during the game.

     Swift did not attend the Chiefs’ game on Oct. 8 against the Minnesota Vikings. Some fans are upset, wondering about the couple, while others are happy for the focus of the game to not be on Swift. Kelce sprained his ankle walking on the turf, until he was cleared to go back on the field where he scored a touchdown not long after. Despite physical injuries, Kelce seems to be Mr. Perfectly Fine whether Swift is found in the crowd or not.

     Kelce, one of the top tight ends in NFL history, was born on Oct. 5, 1989, in Westlake, Ohio, and raised in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Kelce led the NFL in catches, yards and touchdowns for tight ends in the 2022 NFL season. Kelce was an athlete from the start, playing and excelling in three sports during high school – football, basketball and baseball – leaving high school with two All-State team nominations for football. In college, Kelce played for the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. He originally began his football career as a quarterback, until his coaches slowly transitioned him into the tight end position because of all of the potential that they saw in him. He began playing for the Chiefs in 2013.

     Swift was born and raised on a Christmas tree farm in Reading, Pennsylvania. She officially began her career in 2004 after moving to Nashville to pursue music, signing her first deal with Sony at 14 years old. Swift’s original music fell under the country genre but over her nearly 20-year career, Swift has spanned across a multitude of genres which her fans appreciate. Her first album was released in 2006, and she currently has 10 albums out. In 2018, Swift joined Republic Records, which would allow her to master the rights of her music. Since then, she has begun re-recording old albums with the majority of the same lyrics and tunes, but releasing them as “Taylor’s Version,” in order to own her own songs. Since then, Swift’s career has massively expanded. In March of 2023, she began the Eras Tour featuring songs from each of her “eras,” or albums, as opposed to just one album.

     According to Time Magazine in a piece published in Aug. 2023, there is a “projected gross of $2.2 billion in North America tickets alone, and hundreds of millions of streams reaching a nearly 80% spike in those listening to her music catalog in the weeks after the tour kicked off.” Swifties, the name given to her fanbase, have proven to be loyal to wits end. Some are even saying that the Eras Tour is saving the economy. The fanbase is willing to pay thousands of dollars to attend her concert and some are attending more than once. Swift is selling out the stadiums that she now watches Kelce play in on Sundays.

     A fan of Taylor Swift, @sarahhbeaarrr, shared an Instagram reel saying, “Taylor Swift pulled an Uno reverse on us” in dating Kelce, referencing a line in a Swift song; “in your life you’ll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team.”

     Now that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are known to be in a relationship, the NFL has chosen to use the relationship as a marketing strategy. For Swift fans, it hits different; however, some NFL fans are complaining about the amount of times that the camera pans to Swift and that they need to calm down. Swift was shown 17 times during the Oct. 1 game, according to USA today. Even Kelce said that the NFL is “overdoing it” when talking about the amount of screen time she gets during Chiefs games.

     USD first-year Aidan Quinn gave his opinion on Taylor Swift’s screen time.

     “Honestly, he’s [Kelce] on my fantasy football team and it doesn’t matter how much they show Taylor Swift on TV as long as he catches the ball, so that’s my take,” Quinn said. On an episode of the Pat McAfee show, the host talked about how the love story is helping the NFL.

     “The demographic of females [watching the NFL] is up like 10% from last year. That particular lady [Taylor Swift] and her fanbase coming into the NFL is a beautiful thing,” McAfee said.

     “The NFL has been trying to reach that [demographic] forever. They got a bunch of suits

sitting around a big a** table in New York going ‘we gotta get the younger women involved

in this game somehow. How? Okay. Travis Kelce date Taylor Swift? Deal.’ You start thinking that the NFL has hands and eyes behind it,” McAfee explained.

     Joe Pompliano, a well-known personality in sports and business, posted on X about the impact that the couple has had on Kelce’s career.

     “Travis Kelce has had a busy 24 hours: seven catches for 69 yards and a TD, gained 300,000+ social media followers, +400% increase in merchandise sales [and] top-five selling jersey in the NFL. That’s the Taylor Swift effect,” Pompliano tweeted.

     USD first-year Josie Behrens shared her take on the relationship between Swift and Kelce.

     “Travis Kelce is her 13th boyfriend and 13 is her lucky number, so basically they’re probably going to be end game… I mean I think now that Taylor Swift owns the NFL pretty much… I just think that’s awesome for women,” Behrens said.

     Celebrities and athletes are known to have a lot of influence  in today’s world. The Swift- Kelce crossover was a pair that  was not anticipated but has appeared to be more powerful

than expected. The athlete and singer-songwriter are exciting some fans, looping them on the

hunt for easter eggs with song lyrics from Swift throughout the media, but others feel less inclined to watch Chiefs’ games due to her multiple appearances on screen during games. And to think, it all started with a friendship bracelet.