Taylor Swift is looking like the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player to a nation of Swifties coming off a summer of stadium shows, but her new beau Travis Kelce was well-known before this season.
Let’s go to the start of all this, Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, when the Philadelphia Eagles faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Two brothers headlined the Super Bowl, Jason Kelce who plays Center for the Eagles, and Travis Kelce who plays Tight End for the Chiefs. Both brothers have received multiple All-Pro honors and are recognized as the elite of both their positions.
Before the season began last year Jason and Travis made a podcast together called “New Heights With Jason and Travis Kelce.”
The podcast gave the brothers the opportunity to see each other more after being in two different states apart from each other. They both went to the University of Cincinnati and lived with each other and have always had a great relationship.
Season 1 of New Heights included guests that played or have played in the NFL. The Super Bowl really blew the podcast up again, because the Kelce brothers played against each other and their mother turned into a media darling. It started appearing on the top charts for podcasts in apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
On July 26th, midway through the summer of Taylor, on episode 50 of New Heights Season 2, Jason Kelce asked Travis about a Taylor Swift concert he attended.
“I know you went to the Taylor Swift concert, how was it?” Jason asked.
“Yeah well, I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings. I was a little butthurt that I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”
The social sphere was abuzz with images of Travis’ bracelets – a symbol and charm for Taylor lovers.
“Kansas City showed out I’ve only seen Arrowhead filled like that for Chiefs games with that much excitement,” said Travis.
Jason asked why Travis made a bracelet for her and Travis explained her fans make each other friendship bracelets but he wanted to give Taylor a bracelet with “his number on it.”
Travis went on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Sept 21 after he played his first game of the season against the Jacksonville Jaguars the week before.
By then, the rumor mill had taken over.
Mcafee asked Travis if he hated the speculation.
“No, that’s just life. I threw the ball in her court and I told her maybe I’ve seen you rock the stadium at Arrowhead You might have to see me rock the stadium at Arrowhead and see which ones a little more lit,” Travis said to McAfee.
Pop culture and sports soon collided on Sept 24 when the Chiefs Played the Chicago Bears and Taylor Swift was in attendance. Cameras cut to Swift in the Kelce family suite 17 times and the play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico welcomed Swifties to the game.
Kelce and the Chiefs went on to have their best game of the season beating the Bears 41-10 and Kelce caught a touchdown with Swift and Kelce’s mom Donna Kelce cheering him on. Longtime NFL fan and former Automotive student at Delta Dylan Perry-Watts, thinks the NFL has gone too far with this but understands the business aspect of it all.
“Seeing Taylor Swift when players other than Kelce made a big play was pretty annoying. I had to explain who she was to my dad and uncle, being Raiders fans we already dislike the Chiefs,”said Perry-Watts, “However I understand why the NFL is doing it because it is benefiting them, The Chiefs, and Taylor Swift because it is bringing a lot more eyes to football and increasing sales of Chiefs gear.”
Perry-Watts is correct about the reasoning behind it.
According to NFLShop.com, Travis Kelce saw a nearly 400% increase in sales throughout the website. Kelce surpassed his teammate Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and is now No. 1 in merchandise sales.
The game had a positive impact on television ratings as well. Fox Sports announced the following Tuesday that 24.3 million viewers watched the Chiefs game making it the most watched game in week three of the NFL. The Kelce brothers podcast New Heights is now No. 1 on Apple podcasts and it is number 2 on Spotify’s top Podcasts in the USA.
It’s safe to say Travis Kelce’s connection to Swift has amplified what was already a considered following post Super Bowl success.
Evette Dominguez is a “Swiftie” who has recently started to watch Chiefs games and enjoys spending time with her family watching football.
“Before Travis and Taylor I never really had the desire to understand football because it was something my family watched and I assumed I would never get it.” said Dominquez, “Now with Taylor being a huge football fan I wanted to become one myself so I’ve started asking my family lots of questions.”