Taylor Swift won over the entire Kansas City Chiefs organization after she started dating tight end Travis Kelce.
“Everybody stayed away [and] just let [Travis] do what he was doing,” starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes said during a December 2023 interview on CBS Mornings. “Then he started bringing Taylor around. He realized how cool of a person she was — and she is — and so for us, there were a couple of jokes here and there at the beginning. She’s part of the team.”
Swift and Kelce’s romance began in summer 2023. They stepped out together for the first time after one of the Chiefs’ home games at Arrowhead Stadium that fall. Since then, Swift has been a fixture at NFL matchups.
“Football is awesome, it turns out,” she quipped to TIME in a 2023 profile. “I’ve been missing out my whole life.”
Everything the Chiefs Athletes Have Said About Meeting Taylor Swift
Kelce’s teammates and other members of the Chiefs organization have since gotten a front-row seat to watch his love story with the pop star unfold. Keep scrolling for their best quotes:
Clark Hunt
Hunt’s family owns the Chiefs with Clark serving as the organization’s CEO.
“We’re so happy for Travis Kelce and Taylor in their relationship. I’ve had a chance to meet her at one of the many games that she’s attended this year,” Clark said on CNBC in January 2024. “She’s just as sweet as she can be. I also got to see her play here [at Arrowhead] twice this past summer and what an incredible performer. I mean, just one of the most incredible artists of our time.”
He added, “The attention that’s been focused on the Chiefs, our female audience has grown leaps and bounds. That’s right, it was purely organic. … When they were just starting off dating, there were a lot of people saying, ‘Oh, it’s a marketing stunt,’ but no, it’s very real and the most important thing is we’re happy for the two of them.”
The following July, Clark called Swift “part of Chiefs Kingdom” during a team event.
“She is in Liverpool this week [on tour] and we had a ring ceremony a couple of nights ago, which she stayed up for, it was about 4 a.m. in Liverpool,” Clark added. “She sent a social media communication that used the word, ‘we,’ so she is definitely part of the team’s kingdom.”
Swift had tuned into Chariah Gordon’s livestream of the ceremony in which the organization members received their 2024 Super Bowl rings. (Gordon is engaged to Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman Jr. and often watches games from Swift’s suite at Arrowhead.)
Gracie Hunt
Clark and his wife, Tavia Hunt, share children Gracie, Knobel and Ava, all of whom are big fans of Swift’s.
“She is just so beautiful, kind, gracious and sweet,” Gracie exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2024. “We’re very lucky to have her as a part of Chiefs Kingdom, and I’m so glad and feel so honored to watch the way that she’s also embraced and fallen in love with the sport of football.”
At the time, the team heiress hoped that Swift and Kelce’s romance would be “end game.”
Taylor Swift Quietly Visited Travis Kelce at Stadiums Before Going Public
Mark Donovan
The Chiefs president also denied speculation that Swift and Kelce’s connection was a marketing ploy to drum up interest in the team.
“I’d love to say that it was a marketing strategy,” Donovan said on CNBC’s Squawk Box in November 2024. “But it is an authentic relationship and we’re happy to have it. It’s been nothing but good for us. I think the best thing I can say about the whole relationship and the impact it’s had on us is: Taylor Swift is an authentic member of the Kansas City Chiefs Kingdom. She’s an authentic fan — that matters to our fans and our fanbase.”
Andy Reid
Reid, the Chiefs head coach, actually met Swift long before Kelce.
“I knew her from Philadelphia. Her dad was a big NFL fan,” Reid, who used to coach the Eagles, said during an October 2023 interview on Donovan McNabb’s “The Five Spot” podcast. “So, I had met her when she was real young, and her dad.”
Months later, Reid revealed that Swift hadn’t been a “distraction” to the team.
Every Time Taylor Swift Attended an NFL Game to Cheer for Travis Kelce
“She’s a good girl and she loves the game and obviously loves Kelce, so I’m happy for both of them,” Reid said on SiriusXM NFL Radio in February 2024.
The next month on the Rich Eisen Show, Reid praised Swift as a “really good cook.”
“She makes a mean Pop-Tart, homemade Pop-Tart,” he added. “She just doesn’t share it with me, she shares with all the linemen. I’m telling her, ‘You gotta give a little to the coach.’”
During the 2024-2025 season, Swift even sent team members boxes of homemade “Victory Pop-Tarts” to celebrate game wins.
Brett Veach
While the Chiefs general manager hadn’t met Swift by March 2024, he had seen a change in Kelce’s postgame routine.
“I mean she comes to the games and she’s up there [in a suite] and typically families come down [to the locker room area] to see the players,” Veach said on the “3 and Out” podcast. “Travis goes up to see her. The only time that we realize [she’s in the stadium] is when we’re looking at our phones during the TV timeout and CBS is zooming in on Taylor, you’re reminded that they’re together, but Travis is a straight pro and the guys treat him like that.”
Stefanie Hills
The former Chiefs cheerleader also revealed that Swift would meet up with Kelce after each game.
“She would always meet Travis by [his] locker room,” Hills said in a December 2024 TikTok video. “All those pictures of her game-day outfits walking down [the] red tunnels at Arrowhead are right next to the players’ locker room, which is right next door to the Chiefs cheer locker room, and there were so many close encounters [we had].”
