How Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce Shook Up the NFL Season
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Super Bowl LVIII may be airing this month, but for football fans — new ones, in particular — the most exciting NFL show started back on Sunday, September 24. After weeks of rumors about a romance between pop sensation Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, the world finally got their first public sighting. The megastar cheered on her beau from his private box at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium as Kelce’s team went up against the Chicago Bears. The seismic pairing, a head-on collision of professional sports and culture, shook the entertainment world and solidified Swift as the best thing to happen to TV sports since Friday Night Lights.
It’s not that the “Cruel Summer” singer has helped improve Kelce’s skills — the Super Bowl winner is unmatched on the field. (Despite knee and ankle injuries this season, he became the fastest tight end in NFL history to reach 11,000 receiving yards.) What Swift brings is a groundswell of Swifties, the name for her massive fanbase. Those friendship bracelet–wearing devotees, who packed arenas during Swift’s ongoing Eras Tour, turned out in droves for a peek at their idol — both in person and onscreen.
(Credit: Jason Hanna/Getty Images)
The Swift Effect was immediate. In one day, Sunday, September 24, sales of Kelce’s No. 87 jersey spiked by nearly 400 percent. The October 1, face-off between the Chiefs and the New York Jets drew a staggering 27 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Sunday game since 2023’s Super Bowl. According to NBC Sports, viewership among teen girls rose by an average of 53 percent during the first three weeks of Sunday Night Football. Women over the age of 35 increased by 34 percent.
Helping fuel interest in all things #Swelce were Swift’s A-list guests, like Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. And Kelce, with his reality-show good looks and made-for-TV backstory (fans ate up the amiable, Manning-ish rivalry with his brother Jason, a center for the Philadelphia Eagles) is just as ready for his close-up as his girlfriend. The pair made cameos on Saturday Night Live’s October 14 episode, where Kelce appeared in a skit skewering the NFL’s coverage of the couple. Fitting, since it had become distractingly ubiquitous, with cameras trained more on Swift’s every move than some of the footballers (she was shown 17 times during that Chiefs–Jets game!). Swift also supported Kelce at his Sunday, December 31 game — where the Chiefs won their eighth consecutive division championship — before the two were spotted sharing a New Year’s Eve kiss.
All in all, it’s been a championship season, not just for the NFL, the broadcast nets carrying Kelce’s games and the Chiefs’ merchandise sales…but also Heinz. The food giant quickly released “Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch” after Swift was spotted eating chicken fingers with a mashup of the condiments during a game. But who knows if this frenzy will continue into next season? By then, the two could be kaput and Kelce just another ex name-dropped in Swift’s next hit single. Best-case scenario, however, is that Swift finally scores the one thing she has yet to acquire in her epic rise to icon status: a lasting love story truly worth singing about.
(Credit: Gotham/GC Images)
Taylor & Travis Onscreen
Amsterdam (Available now, Hulu & Max)
Swift kicks off the central mystery in the 1930s-set comedy thriller from 2022 as the daughter of a dead war hero who meets a grim demise.
Catching Kelce (Available now, Peacock)
Way before he met Miss Americana, Kelce dated one woman from every state in E!’s 2016 Bachelor rip-off.
Cats (Available now, Netflix)
The much-maligned 2019 adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical casts Swift as feisty catnip-dispensing Bombalurina and features “Beautiful Ghosts,” an original song she cowrote with Webber.
Kelce (Available now, Prime Video)
This 2023 doc — meant to be about brother Jason’s supposed final year in the NFL — shows Jason and Travis as they face off at the Super Bowl.
Miss Americana (Available now, Netflix)
Before her Eras era, Swift opened up for this 2020doc exploring her already impressive career, her political views and her 2018 Reputation stadium tour.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (extended version) (Available for rent, Prime Video & Apple TV)
This 2023 look at Swift’s record-breaking tour is also the highest-grossing concert film in U.S. box offices.
Travis Kelce: Sharp, Sturdy, Swift (Available for rent, Prime Video)
The tight end takes center stage in this 2023 look at his career and, of course, love life.
Valentine’s Day (Available for rent, Prime Video & Apple TV)
Swift made her film-acting debut in 2010’s ensemble rom-com as a high schooler experiencing her first love opposite then-BF and Twilight star Taylor Lautner.
