Taylor Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce caused a seismic shift within the Kansas City Chiefs organization.
ESPN’s six-part docuseries The Kingdom, which premiered its first two episodes on Thursday, August 14, detailed the early days of the pop star’s romance with the Chiefs tight end.
Swift, 35, made her first appearance at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium in September 2023 when the Chiefs hosted the Chicago Bears.
Not only was her attendance a sign that she and Kelce, 35, were the real deal, it also raised plenty of logistical concerns for the Chiefs organization.
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For the biggest revelations from The Kingdom about how Swift and Kelce’s union rocked the franchise — from the front office to quarterback Patrick Mahomes — keep reading.
How the Chiefs Organization Found Out About Taylor Swift’s 1st Appearance
The Kansas City Chiefs had only days notice that Swift would be hitting Arrowhead for the team’s game against the Bears on September 24, 2023.
“I remember [Chiefs president] Mark Donovan, on a Friday afternoon, called me and told me that Taylor Swift was going to be coming to the game,” Chiefs marketing officer Lara Krug said in episode 3 of The Kingdom, which premieres Tuesday, August 19. “I remember getting off the phone and looking out the window being like, ‘Huh, that’s a big deal.’”
Donovan, 59, remembered the shock of the Swift announcement in similar fashion.
“Lara Krug walked into my office and closed the door,” Donovan said in the series. “She was like, ‘OK, can I ask you a question?’ I’m like, ‘Absolutely.’”
Donovan recalled Krug asking him, “This isn’t, like, normal, is it?”
“‘No, Laura, this is not normal,” Donovan remembered telling her with a laugh.
Two days later, Swift was in a suite alongside Kelce’s mom, Donna Kelce, and the organization hasn’t been the same since.
Patrick Mahomes Didn’t Believe Taylor Swift Was Actually Showing Up
While there was a palpable buzz inside Arrowhead Stadium about Swift’s potential arrival, Chiefs quarterback Mahomes was reluctant to buy into the hype — even after getting a heads-up from Travis himself.
“He told me during the week,” Mahomes, 29, said of Swift attending the game. “It was one of those ‘I gotta see it.’ Like, I gotta see it until I believe it.”
Once inside the stadium on game day, Mahomes became a believer.
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“You could see people in the stadium gravitating toward where she was at,” he said.
The Kingdom cameras captured Mahomes and Travis looking up in the direction of Swift in her suite, with both players marveling at the situation.
“That’s the first person I noticed,” Mahomes told Travis. “I didn’t see anybody else.”
How the Kansas City Chiefs Locker Room Reacted to Taylor Swift’s Arrival
Once Swift hit Arrowhead, the Chiefs locker room got to gossiping.
Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones recalled players whispering to each other, “You know Taylor Swift is here. Taylor Swift. For real? With Travis? Oh my God!”
“We were like, ‘Oh my God, Travis pulled Taylor Swift,” Jones, 31, said.
Taylor Swift’s 1st Appearance at Chiefs Game Was a Conundrum for Journalists
After the Chiefs’ victory over the Bears, ESPN’s Nate Taylor (formerly of The Athletic), said the plans for his game day coverage went out the window.
“Whatever I was going to write that day, I gotta include Taylor Swift in the story,” Taylor said on The Kingdom. “We go down to the locker room. There’s this awkward dance of like, ‘Great win, nice job.’ Get that all out of the way. ‘Did you know about Taylor Swift?’”
Taylor added, “You couldn’t write enough about her. You couldn’t talk enough about her.”
ESPN’s Mina Kimes admitted that he took her a while to believe that Swift and Kelce were the real deal — until it became impossible to deny.
“I’ll be straight-up. I did not think it was a real relationship,” Kimes said in the series. “And then she kept showing up, and I was like, ‘Oh man. Ain’t no one going to Kansas City that much for a fake relationship.’”
The first two episodes of The Kingdom are available on ESPN+, with episodes 3 and 4 premiering on Tuesday, August 19, and episodes 5 and 6 premiering on Wednesday, August 20, on ESPN.
