Travis Kelce And Taylor Swift's Relationship Timeline
If there's anything that has taken the press by storm in 2023, it has to be the relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Ever since the pop star made an appearance at a Kansas City Chiefs game to cheer on the professional football player, the media has exploded with news of their budding relationship. With so much attention surrounding the pop star's love life for years, it's only expected that fans have wanted to know what exactly led to her newfound interest in the tight end. Fresh off her breakup with her long-time boyfriend of six years Joe Alwyn, Swift knew just how to "shake it off," and Kelce was the perfect catch.
Kelce himself is no stranger to fame, albeit on a different level than the "Blank Space" singer. While he was the star of his own reality television dating show "Catching Kelce" in 2016, his love life has been far less scrutinized. After finding love with Maya Benbery on the show, the two went on to date for several months before calling it quits in 2017. Though the football star has gone on to date a few other women, most notably his ex-girlfriend Kayla Nicole, his personal life has taken a back seat to his NFL career. Kelce may have two Super Bowl wins under his belt, but nothing compares to the tabloid attention he received since stepping out with Swift on his arm. From friendship bracelets to box seats at Arrowhead Stadium, their courtship has been a whirlwind. We're breaking down Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's relationship timeline.
Travis Kelce attends a 'New Eras' tour stop
Before Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift had anything romantic, the Chiefs player already had his sights set on the singer. During an episode of his "New Heights" podcast, he admitted that he was smitten with the star after attending her "New Eras" tour stop at Arrowhead Stadium in July of 2023. "I wanted to give Taylor Swift [a friendship bracelet] with my number on it," he said. "... She doesn't meet anybody, or at least she didn't want to meet me, so I took it personal."
Kelce admitted that he wasn't able to meet Swift backstage as he originally hoped. "I was disappointed because she doesn't talk to anyone before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings, so I was a little butthurt I didn't get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her," he explained, adding that he personalized a bracelet to include his phone number. Despite the setback, Kelce admitted, "It was an unbelievable show," adding, "I've only seen Arrowhead filled like that for a Chiefs game with that much excitement ... it was wild, it was a wild show."
Fans have jokingly referenced Swift's apprehension about her being a Philadelphia Eagles fan, which she has previously admitted. In her track "Gold Rush," she sings: "My Eagles T-shirt hanging from the door." She cleared up the debate at her Philadelphia "New Eras" tour stop in a video posted by the NFL, in which she admitted she roots for the NFL team.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are spotted out together
The media frenzy regarding Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce only escalated after the two were reported to be spending time together in September of 2023. Fans even noticed the singer wearing an opal pendant earlier that month and did some digging to find that it's the same stone that represents Kelce's birth month. While that may have been just a coincidence, the beginning of their relationship was very much real.
"Taylor and Travis have been quietly hanging out," an insider told The Messenger at the time. "She saw him when she was in NYC a few weeks ago." But at the time, the two seemed to just be getting to know each other. A source told Entertainment Tonight that same day that the pair "are not officially dating." Another source told E! News around the same time that the two had met up once but had been keeping things casual due to their busy schedules.
But as Swifties would soon learn, that would soon change — as they continued to spark dating rumors in the weeks to come.
Travis Kelce invited Taylor Swift to a Kansas City Chiefs football game
No one was more surprised than Swifties when their protégé was seen cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs in VIP seats in September 2023. While most of the time we're accustomed to seeing the star in bejeweled bodysuits rocking sold-out stadiums, the "1989" singer switched up her attire for a more casual look when she was spotted rooting for Travis Kelce when the Chiefs took on the Chicago Bears (and later won).
The news of Swift broke the Internet, especially because she was seated next to Kelce's mother, Donna, and later seen walking out with Kelce. But what fans may not know is that it was the football star himself who reached out to the singer to sway her into those fancy box seats. The tight end admitted on "The Pat McAfee Show" that he had got in touch with Swift earlier to see if she could make it to the game. "I threw the ball in her court...I told her that I've seen her rock a stage in Arrowhead and you might have to come see me rock the stage at Arrowhead," he explained.
Just days after the episode aired, the "Mirrorball" singer debuted at the stadium — this time as a spectator and not the headliner. After the Chiefs took home the win, Swift and Kelce were seen leaving together, with the latter decked out in a custom KidSuper Studios outfit titled "1989 Bedroom Painting," which fans took to be an easter egg about their newfound romance.
Taylor Swift met Travis Kelce's family
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's relationship is anything but traditional, especially with her being a mega-star on the stage and him on the field. That being said, non-celebrity relationship norms pretty much don't apply. Shortly after Kelce and Swift started to see each other casually, the "Love Story" singer was already seen cozying up to the football star's mother, Donna, in the VIP section.
But according to the Daily Mail, Swift actually met Kelce's family members and friends at the NFL player's house before the game between the Chiefs and the Bears. The outlet reported that the "Teardrops On My Guitar" singer was seen leaving Kelce's million-dollar Kansas City mansion to board a party bus with the player's entourage en route to Arrowhead Stadium. Swift was spotted arriving at the tight end's house after boarding a private jet to Kansas City and stayed about an hour before heading to the game.
"Travis wasn't at his house, but it was filled with his friends and family. He has a personal chef and several friends from high school and college who use his place as a crash pad whenever they are in town," the insider told Daily Mail. After the game, a source spotted the pair reportedly holding hands at a rooftop restaurant, with Swift later seen sitting on Kelce's lap.
Travis Kelce says he's keeping his personal life private
Despite the inquiring minds that so desperately want to know about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's whirlwind romance, the football player is remaining tight-lipped about their relationship. Shortly after Swift showed up to cheer on Kelce for the first time at Arrowhead Stadium, the NFL star addressed the intense media scrutiny on another episode of his "New Heights" podcast. "I know I brought all this attention to me, right?" Kelce admitted. "I did the whole friendship bracelet thing and told everyone how butthurt I was that I didn't get to meet Taylor."
The Chiefs player admitted that he has no regrets over how their meeting went down but wants to keep his private life private. "What's real is it is my personal life, and I want to respect both of our lives," he said, adding that Swift isn't "in the media as much as I am doing this show every single week." Despite the intense media coverage that comes with dating one of the world's biggest stars, Kelce revealed that he has been enjoying the ride. "I'm on the roller coaster, the roller coaster of life," he added, admitting that it was an adjustment. "Yeah, I notice a few things, like paparazzi outside my house," he joked.
Despite not giving too much away about their connection, the NFL player did praise the singer for getting out of her comfort zone. "Shout-out to Taylor for pulling up [to the Chiefs game]," he admitted. "That was pretty ballsy, that was pretty ballsy, yeah."
Taylor Swift brought members of her squad to a Chiefs game
Every Swiftie knows that no one messes with Taylor Swift's girl squad — unless you want to be targeted as a villain in a music video that features all of her besties as superheroes ("Bad Blood" anyone?). So, fans took it pretty seriously when the singer showed up at Met Life Stadium to cheer on her beau alongside members of her exclusive girl gang.
A week after she was seen seated next to Donna Kelce in the VIP section, Swift was seen cheering on the Chiefs alongside her best friend, Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her newfound friend Brittany Mahomes (who is married to the Chiefs quarterback and rumored to be the newest squad member). The singer also brought along Sophie Turner, Hugh Jackman, and Sabrina Carpenter.
It seems the Swift squad has given their stamp of approval, despite media speculation that the opposite was true. The "Cruel Summer" singer's bestie, Gigi Hadid, recently spoke out about Kelce and Swift's relationship amidst rumors suggesting she thought the artist had been moving too quickly with the NFL star. The model commented on an Instagram post promoting a Perez Hilton article, writing: "I'm a couple [of] days late to this tag, but didn't the press try this last week [with] Selena?" adding, "Let it be. We are all over the moon for our girl. Period."
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce appear on SNL
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift took their relationship to the next level when the two made a surprise appearance together on "Saturday Night Live." The "Our Song" singer introduced her friend and musical guest Ice Spice on the show, while the football player had a brief cameo in a skit that poked fun at his and Swift's buzzing relationship. After the broadcasters joked about the intense media attention surrounding the pair using several Swift lyric puns, the camera panned to Kelce onscreen who appears on the sidelines of the field not as a player but as a reporter. "We are going to speak with someone who actually wants to talk about football," Kenan Thompson joked.
The two were later spotted leaving the SNL afterparty, but not before video surfaced of the NFL player walking past Swift's security. Some fans thought Kelce had pushed the man out of the way, which he later denied on his "New Heights" podcast. "I didn't push him," he explained. "I placed my hand on the gentleman's back to let him know I was behind him. If I would've pushed him, he probably would've turned around and tased me.
The romance seemed to have heated up at that point, however, especially since the Chiefs player admitted he felt the need to protect Swift. "I feel like whenever I'm on a date, I'm always having the sense of like I'm a man in the situation," he explained. "I'm, like, protective, yeah, for sure. You always kind of have that feeling or that self-awareness, I guess."
Travis Kelce dishes on meeting Taylor Swift's dad
Before one of Taylor Swift's "New Eras" tour stops in Argentina, Travis Kelce was introduced to the singer's father, Scott Swift. The trio were spotted dining at a steakhouse together on the Friday before the show, with Kelce and Swift leaving the restaurant hand-in-hand. The tight end opened up about the meeting, on the 64th episode of his "New Heights" podcast, saying that he had to do a bit of convincing since Swift's father is a hardcore Philadelphia Eagles fan.
"I might have persuaded him at dinner the night before when I met him," he admitted, adding that Scott is "a big football guy" and played in college as well. "Got him over to the good side, baby," Kelce joked about him becoming a Chiefs fan. "Just one by one, getting all the good ones to come on over."
The NFL star admitted that plenty of empanadas and steak were eaten during his and Swift's time together as they enjoyed a trip south of the equator. The Chiefs player also prided Swift on keeping it low-key when the Saturday night show was postponed due to inclement weather. "We didn't want to just go have a blast throughout the city like we didn't care about the show, so we made sure we stayed in the hotel and kind of kept to ourselves," he said.
Taylor Swift sings about Travis Kelce during an 'Eras' tour stop in Argentina
Could Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift be the "New Romantics?" It certainly seems that way, especially since the star gave Kelce a special shout-out during an Argentina tour stop in November 2023. A video of the singer singing her track "Karma" made the rounds on social media in which the star changed the original lyric, "Karma is the guy on the screen/Coming straight home to me," to "Karma is the guy on the Chiefs/Coming straight home to me."
Cameras panned to Kelce to see his overjoyed reaction while hearing the change-up alongside Swift's father, Scott. The two were seen enjoying the show together in the VIP section, and fans were quick to notice Scott was wearing a Chiefs lanyard around his neck. Kelce dished on the shout-out on Episode 64 of his "New Heights" podcast saying, "... When I heard it come out of her mouth, [it] still shocked me, and it blew me." He also apologized to Scott, who had attempted to high-five Kelce in the moment, which he had failed to notice amidst the commotion. "Yeah Mr. Swift, I apologize, big guy," he joked.
Shortly after Swift closed the show, a clip surfaced of the singer running into Kelce's arms to give him a kiss.
Will Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's parents meet at a Chiefs game?
With Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce already having met members of each others' families — fans are inquiring when the pair's parents will be introduced. According to Entertainment Tonight, that day could be sooner than fans think. Donna and Ed Kelce are reportedly set to meet Andrea and Scott Swift during the Chiefs game against the Philadelphia Eagles (the same team that Kelce's brother Jason plays on). The game would mark a momentous moment between the two families, with Jason and Travis facing off on the field, especially since Swift's own father is an Eagles fan himself.
Swift has already gotten in the good graces with Travis's mother, who previously admitted to seeing "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" in theaters. "I did see it and I did like it. It was awesome," Donna told People, adding that her potential daughter-in-law is "extremely, extremely talented." While those two seem thick-as-thieves (especially if the press photos from their VIP section have anything to do with it), Travis might be in a tighter spot if he pulls out a win against Swift's father's favorite team.
One thing is for sure — Swifties are changing their tune and donning football ball jerseys to go along with their infamous "New Eras" tour friendship bracelets.