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Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs teammates were starstruck when Taylor Swift showed up to her first NFL game in September 2023, hard-launching her romance with the NFL tight end.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and defensive tackle Chris Jones swooned over the pop star’s viral appearance in ESPN’s The Kingdom docuseries, which hit ESPN, ESPN+ and Disney+ on Thursday, Aug. 14.
“We were in the locker room like, ‘Taylor Swift’s here.’ ‘Taylor Swift? For real? With Travis? Oh my God!’ ” Jones recalled in a clip of the special. “We were like ‘Oh my God Travis pulled Taylor Swift.’ “
Mahomes confessed that Kelce had told him earlier that week that Taylor was coming to the game; however, he wasn’t convinced it would actually happen.
“I was like, ‘I gotta see it before I believe it,’ ” Mahomes said.
In footage of Kelce and Mahomes on the field, Mahomes is heard saying of Swift, “That’s the first person I noticed, I didn’t see anybody else.”
“You definitely felt the buzz,” Mahomes recalled in The Kingdom. “You could see people in the stadium gravitating to where she was at. At the same time, we had business to handle.”
Swift famously attended Week 3 of the Chiefs’ 2023-2024 season, as they took on the Chicago Bears at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. At the time, reports were circulating that Kelce and Swift were dating; however, they hadn’t confirmed their relationship yet.
Her appearance at the game solidified their romance as Swift was seen enjoying the match from a suite with Kelce’s mom, Donna Kelce. The couple then left the game together after the Chiefs beat the Bears 41-10.
Also in the clip, the team’s Chief Marketing Officer, Lara Krug, recalled Chiefs president Mark Donovan calling her on a Friday afternoon to let her know that Swift would be attending the game.
“I remember getting off the phone and looking out the window being like, ‘Huh … that’s a big deal,’ ” Krug said.
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Donovan then shared in the documentary that Krug walked into his office, closed the door, and asked him, ” ‘This isn’t like normal, is it?’ I’m like, ‘No, Laura, this is not normal.’ ”
Swift went on to attend several more games in support of Kelce and the Chiefs. In February 2024, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell embraced the pair’s romance, telling CBS Mornings co-host Nathaniel Burleson: “They’re happy, they seem to be enjoying their relationship. That’s great, in and of itself. But it has connected more fans of Taylor’s and more fans of the NFL in some ways. Sort of, to see that they have a connection, now [fans] have a connection to our game and to Taylor.”
He continued, “She’s an unbelievable artist, obviously Travis is an unbelievable player. I think it’s great for the league to have that kind of attention. So, we welcome it.”
