Rumors of a relationship between singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and football player Travis Kelce first surfaced when Kelce attended Swift’s recording-breaking Eras Tour at Arrowhead Stadium on July 8. Later, Kelce said on his podcast “New Heights” that he was “disappointed because she doesn’t talk before or after shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings.” So he was disappointed because he didn’t get to give her the bracelet he made with his number on it. When Jason Kelce, co-host of the podcast, asked Travis whether it was his number as in 87, or his phone number, he responded by saying “you know which one.” After clips of this podcast went viral on TikTok, speculations that the two were dating started flowing in. Their rumored relationship quickly became popular among fans, as Swift is one of the major faces of the music industry, and Kelce is a multiple time Super Bowl-winning tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.
However, speculation about the relationship ramped up when Swift attended Kelce’s game against the Chicago Bears at Arrowhead Stadium on Sept. 24. She sat in his suite next to his mother, Donna Kelce. Swift’s attendance at this game not only broke the internet, but it also had a major positive impact on the popularity of the NFL and Kelce, nicknamed the “Swift Effect.” Following her surprise appearance, Kelce gained 383,000 followers on his Instagram account, his jersey sales went up 400% and his podcast is now ranked first on Apple. Additionally, Chiefs tickets searches increased threefold on Stubhub, and the Chiefs sold more tickets in one game since the beginning of the 2023 season.
The next week, Swift appeared at the Chiefs vs. Jets game, where the Chiefs beat the Jets 23-10. Instead of sitting with Kelce’s mother, Swift went with a group of her celebrity friends including Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Sophie Turner, Sabrina Carpenter and Hugh Jackman. In anticipation of Swift’s return, this game was the second most watched game of the season with 27 million online viewers, coming in behind the NFL Kickoff Classic last month with 27.5 million viewers.
Due to Swift’s appearances at the games, the NFL’s viewership has increased tremendously. Women are a demographic the NFL has been trying to reach out to for a long time, though largely unsuccessfully: according to Statistica, only 24% of American women consider themselves avid NFL fans, while 42% don’t consider themselves to be fans at all. Meanwhile, 51% of American men consider themselves to be avid NFL fans, and only 19% don’t consider themselves as fans. However, the majority of Swift’s fan base is female, and since Swift’s first appearance at the Chiefs vs. Bears game, the number of female NFL viewers has increased by 63%. Swift is also helping the NFL reach a younger generation of viewers. A study from Morning Consult discovered that 45% of Swift fans are millennials between the ages of 27-40, and another 11% is Gen Z, younger than 26 years old. For comparison, last year the average age of NFL viewers was 54 and older.
This past weekend Swift and Kelce were seen in public in New York. On Oct. 14, both made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live. Kelce joined a skit about all NFL news reports covering Swift instead of football, and Swift introduced Ice Spice for her segment.
Swift fans believe the two are “endgame” for many reasons. First, Kelce is Swift’s 13th boyfriend, her lucky number. Kelce’s number, 87, and Swift’s “number,” 13, equal 100 when added together. They were both born in 1989, which is also the name of one of Swift’s albums, and Kelce’s birthday is the same as Swift’s grandmother, Majorie Finlay, who she wrote a song about. Many people, not only Swifties or NFL fans, are hoping that this relationship will work out. Either way Swift has certainly made her mark on the NFL.
