Taylor Swift has now supported Travis Kelce at 12 of his games this season after she caught the Kansas City Chiefs' 17-10 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game.
Her first appearance took the NFL by storm when she showed up to watch the Chiefs take on the Chicago Bears in September, sitting with Kelce's mother Donna in a luxury box suite.
Prior to that appearance, however, she and Kelce knew each other for a little while—a fact Kelce confirmed in an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday. Before Swift came to the Bears game, Kelce invited her in a previous appearance on McAfee's show.
"At that point I assume you knew she was coming?" McAfee said to Kelce on Wednesday.
"Yeah," Kelce said, appearing to stifle a grin as McAfee's co-hosts chuckled.
McAfee suggested that perhaps Kelce and Swift "knew each other pretty well."
"Yeah, we had knew each other for close to a month up to that point," Kelce said. "It wasn't just an out-of-the-blue: 'Hey, come to the game.'"
Swift confirmed that as well in an interview with Time after the publication named her its "Person of the Year" in 2023.
"We actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I'm grateful for, because we got to get to know each other," Swift said. "By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date."
NFL fans haven't all been thrilled by the coverage of Swift on weekly broadcasts this season, although the glimpses of her have tailed off significantly since the initial storm.
Now the couple just enjoys the game.
"Football is awesome, it turns out," Swift told Time ("playfully," per the publication). "I've been missing out my whole life."
Kelce said he loves having her there with his family and friends.
"I'm having fun with it, the majority of the world is having fun with it outside of all the cranky NFL fans who just don't want to see the Chiefs win, and you know what, we're slowly reeling them in," Kelce said. "We're slowly reeling them in. They are just fighting it right now."
Kelce added that he had to reel some things in too as he dealt with a number of new challenges this year, including paparazzi and every other distraction that comes with dating a pop star at Swift's level of fame. After all, the Chiefs are in the middle of a dynastic run, and Kelce is integral to their success.
"Everybody in this building knows my intentions," Kelce said. "Football is my main focus right now. There's lot of people counting on me in this building, in this city, in this organization. This is my No. 1 focus at the time, and on top of that, it's in my heart to be able to pour everything I've got out there on the field.
"There's some perceptions, and people can perceive what they want, but I wanted to make sure that the guys, and the men and women in this building, knew that I was 100 percent focused on this team, and getting this team to where we're going next week—100 percent I had to look back, take a step back and see how I was portraying myself to the world, and make sure everybody knew I was focused, all the while still enjoying my life off the field."
The Chiefs will take on the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Tom Westerholm is a Sports & Culture Reporter for Newsweek. Prior to joining Newsweek, he was the Boston Celtics beat ... Read more
