The Taylor Swift effect: 'Miss Americana is turning Travis Kelce into America’s sweetheart'

Travis Kelce’s introduction to the Taylor Swift effect came the day after her surprise appearance at Arrowhead Stadium just over a week ago.

Lying in wait outside his home was a swarm of paparazzi, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end recently revealed on an episode of his podcast.

“How do you know they’re paparazzi?” his brother and podcast co-host, Jason Kelce, asked.

“They have a camera in their hands and they’re screaming my name,” Travis Kelce quipped. “That’s how I know.”

Kelce has long been one of the NFL’s best-known stars, a two-time Super Bowl champion with a budding claim as the best ever at his position and the charisma and comedic chops to remain in the spotlight after football. In 2016, he starred in an E! Entertainment dating show called “Catching Kelce.” This year, he has hosted "Saturday Night Live" and flashed his made-for-TV smile in a handful of commercials.

And yet the collision between America’s most popular sports league and best-known pop star has rocketed Kelce to a new tier of celebrity. He’s gone from football-famous to famous-famous since Swift went public with her apparent interest in him.

Eight days ago, Swift turbocharged speculation that she and Kelce were dating by watching him play live decked out in red and white from a glass-enclosed suite alongside his mother and then by leaving Arrowhead Stadium by his side. Swift then made a repeat appearance Sunday evening, joining A-list friends Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Sophie Turner at MetLife Stadium for the Chiefs’ 23-20 victory over the New York Jets.

Nobody is sure how serious Swift and Kelce are as a couple — or if they even are a couple — but what is clear is they have America abuzz. Their purported romance has become fodder for outlets ranging from the New York Times, to Us Weekly, to ESPN. Even New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick weighed in, jokingly calling Swift the “biggest catch of Kelce’s career.”

The global obsession with Swift’s dating life helped Kelce gain nearly 1 million Instagram followers over the past week. Among those apparently is "Shark Tank" star Barbara Corcoran, who last week commented on one of Kelce’s posts, “​​I’m your biggest fan [since Sunday].”

Sales of Kelce’s jersey spiked 400% after Swift’s first appearance. TV ratings for Chiefs games have also soared. Kelce’s name was briefly Google’s No. 1 most searched phrase and his podcast has retained the No. 1 spot on Apple’s overall charts for days.

“Travis Kelce was already a football star, but after being linked to Taylor Swift, now he’s in an entirely different orbit,” Beth Booker, founder of Gracie PR, told Yahoo Sports. “Miss Americana is turning Travis Kelce into America’s sweetheart.”

The power of Taylor Swift

The connection between Swift and Kelce likely dates back to his unsuccessful attempt to introduce himself in early July when her Eras Tour came through Kansas City. In keeping with the tradition of fans trading friendship bracelets at Swift’s concerts, Kelce hoped to offer her one that he made specially for her.

“I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it,” he told his brother on a July episode of their podcast.

“As in 87 or your phone number” Jason Kelce asked.

“You know which one,” Travis responded with a cheeky grin.

Swift may not have received the bracelet, but she apparently caught wind of Kelce’s declaration of interest. A report surfaced in mid-September that Swift and Kelce had been “quietly hanging out.”

Kelce’s older brother fueled speculation a week later with his response to a Philadelphia radio host who asked how the alleged couple was doing. At first, Jason told the 94WIP Morning Show that he thinks the rumors were “all 100% true.” Jason then quickly insisted that he was just “joking” and that he doesn’t actually know what’s going on.

Rumors became reality just over a week ago when the Chiefs hosted the Chicago Bears. Fox cameras captured footage of Swift, clad in a Chiefs zip-up windbreaker, chatting with Kelce’s mother, cheering for the tight end during the game and screaming and chest bumping after he caught a second-half touchdown pass.

“We knew right away this broadcast would be notable less for the game coverage and more for whatever images we captured of the pop superstar in attendance,” Richie Zyontz, Fox’s lead NFL producer, wrote last week.

The first clip of Swift and Kelce together came from the iPhone of the son of Chicago Bears legend Walter Payton. A security guard stopped Jarrett Payton near the Chiefs locker room an hour after the game as the WGN sports reporter and anchor was trying to find his way out of Arrowhead Stadium. Payton was clever enough to take out his phone and start filming when he saw some of Kelce’s friends and family walk by and heard chatting and laughter from around the corner.

Payton called his wife on his way to the parking lot and told her, “I think I’ve got something big.”

By the time he arrived at his Kansas City hotel room, the avalanche of comments and reposts confirmed his suspicions.

More than 16 million people viewed Payton’s four-second video of Kelce and a smiling Swift walking side-by-side down an Arrowhead Stadium hallway. Payton said he has since received hundreds of interview requests from media outlets around the world.

“That’s the power of Taylor Swift,” Payton said.

'I did this to myself'

The co-host of a popular Taylor Swift-themed podcast concedes that not all the pop star’s fans are as football-savvy as she is.

“Before this, I would say like 10% knew who Travis Kelce was,” says Nick Adams, co-founder of “13: A Taylor Swift Fan Podcast.”

The scenes from Swift’s surprise appearance in Kansas City sent curious fans down a Google rabbit hole. Swifties sifted through Kelce’s backstory and dating history with the doggedness of private investigators.

What they found was that Kelce was more extroverted than many of Swift’s exes. How many of Swift’s previous suitors have ever taught an NBA All-Star to chug a beer? Or hosed down Las Vegas clubbers with a six-liter bottle of Champagne?

“This is a guy who likes to be the center of the party,” Adams said, “and she’s never really dated anyone like that.”

Many Swifties also appreciated how enthusiastic Swift was during the game and how carefree and happy she looked by his side. They enjoyed that she high-fived and chest-bumped in clear view of TV cameras and that she felt comfortable riding away in the passenger seat of Kelce’s convertible with the top down and no security detail in sight.

“I really love this joy for her,” said Ginnie Low, whose Swift-themed TikTok account has nearly 300,000 followers. “I think it speaks volumes that she chose to go to the game in such a public way and that she looked like she was having the absolute best time while she was there.”

Kelce further ingratiated himself to Swifties last Wednesday when he broke his silence about his “personal life that’s not so personal.” When his brother asked on their podcast how it felt to have Swift put him on the map, Travis Kelce laughed and told him, “It was definitely a game I’ll remember, that’s for damn sure.”

“I just thought it was awesome how everybody in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her,” Kelce continued. “You know, the friends and family. She looked amazing. Everybody was talking about her in great light.”

Moving forward, Kelce made it clear that he intends to keep the podcast football-focused. He told his brother, “What’s real is that it’s my personal life, and I want to respect both of our lives.”

Playful yet respectful was exactly the right tone for Kelce to strike, according to Booker. The Gracie PR founder said that Kelce “gave listeners the acknowledgment that they wanted, but he didn’t do it in a way where it felt like he was using her as a prop for his show.”

Kelce may be done addressing his purported romance with Swift, but the NFL clearly isn’t. The league is leaning into this storyline as a way to attract viewers who might not otherwise tune in to watch football on Sundays.

Before Sunday night’s game, the NFL’s Instagram bio read: “10/1/23. Taylor’s back.” Afterward, the league’s social media crew went with: “Chiefs are 2-0 as swifties.”

NBC’s broadcast of the game struck a similar Swift-centric tone. It started with Carson Daly unleashing a slew of Swift puns and song titles to put the Chiefs-Jets game into context for viewers unfamiliar with football. The game itself then featured more than a dozen cutaways to Swift in a suite, two commercials promoting Swift’s upcoming "Eras Tour" movie and a couple more commercials with Kelce in them.

The most memorable footage of Swift came in the second half after the Jets had stormed back from a 17-0 deficit. With her arm around Kelce’s mom, Swift smiles and appears to say, “I don’t know how you do it.”

Kelce and Swift left MetLife Stadium separately on Sunday night, the pop star in a car with her friends and the tight end with his team. It had to have been a draining week for Kelce, but he knows that increased media scrutiny comes with next-level celebrity.

As he said to his brother on their podcast last Wednesday, “I did this to myself, Jason. I know this.”