By RACHEL DESANTIS
UNBEATABLE TEAM“Oh my God, oh my God!” Swift exclaimed as she greeted Kelce on the field with a hug and a kiss.
Taylor Swift is the Grammy-winning pop superstar, but on Feb. 11 it was her NFL player boyfriend, Travis Kelce, who was the one belting into a microphone to an adoring audience. “Viva. Las. Vegas!” the Kansas City Chiefs tight end sang from a stage set up on the field of Sin City’s Allegiant Stadium as Swift beamed along-side Kelce’s mom, Donna, and brother Jason in the crowd. If Kelce sounded a bit pitchy, forgive him: The man had just won a Super Bowl.
After a challenging start, the Chiefs eked out an overtime 25-22 win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII, securing their third championship victory in five seasons. “It was unbelievable!” Swift was heard telling Kelce as they reunited on the field for a long embrace and a celebratory kiss. “It was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced.” The game—viewed by a record-breaking 123.4 million people—capped off a triumphant run for the couple, both 34. Just one week earlier Swift had made history as the first person ever to win Album of the Year four times at the Grammy Awards, where she also announced a new album, The Tortured Poets Department (out April 19). From there Swift set off for Tokyo, where she resumed her Eras Tour with four back-to-back shows before jetting back just in time for Kelce’s matchup. At a post-Super Bowl press conference, Kelce acknowledged their undeniable power-couple status. “[We’re] on top of the world right now,” said the athlete. “It’s a good feeling.”
As Kelce took on the 49ers, Swift cheered—and in the tenser moments nervously bit her nails— from a suite filled with pals, including Blake Lively, Ice Spice and Kelce’s best friend, Aric Jones, as well as her parents, Andrea and Scott, and brother Austin. Kelce’s parents, Ed and Donna, plus Jason and his wife, Kylie, also watched from the suite— as did Paul McCartney, who stopped in for a quick hello. “She’s loved attending all the games, but this was on another level. They partied and celebrated all night,” an insider says of Swift, who attended her first Chiefs game in late September. Later in the night, Swift joined Kelce at the team’s official afterparty at Resorts World before continuing the festivities into the wee hours of the morning. At the Wynn’s XS Nightclub, the couple were spotted kissing, dancing and singing along to her hit “Love Story” as Jason—a center for the Philadelphia Eagles—partied in the DJ booth with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. “The atmosphere was euphoric,” says an onlooker.
‘HIS FAMILY . . . ALL LOVE TAYLOR’
— A KELCE FAMILY SOURCE
As Swift and Kelce’s romance soars to new heights, they have the support of their loved ones. “She’s [a] genuine, down-to-earth person,” Jason said in a Feb. 4 interview on the NFL Network. “My brother and his love life is definitely the topic of the NFL right now, and the whole thing with that is as long as Travis happy and enjoying life, I’m happy and enjoying life.” Ed—who was seen bonding with Swift’s dad at the Super Bowl—previously applauded the “Anti-Hero” singer to People, calling her “very sweet and charming.” Mahomes, whose wife, Brittany, has grown close with Swift, gave the singer his seal of approval at a press conference on Feb. 5, saying: “It’s been awesome to see their relationship grow... Taylor is a great person.”
1 Scott SwiftTaylor Swift’s dad
2 Andrea SwiftTaylor Swift’s mom
3 Don BlalockDonna Kelce’s brother
4 Donna KelceTravis Kelce’s mom
5 Ephrem ‘RiotUSA’ LopezIce Spice’s producer
6 Sydney NessAustin Swift’s girlfriend
7 Jason KelceTravis Kelce’s brother
8 Austin SwiftTaylor Swift’s brother
9 Ice SpiceTaylor Swift’s “Karma” collaborator
10 Ashley AvignoneTaylor Swift’s friend
11 Taylor Swift14-time Grammy winner
12 André EanesTravis Kelce’s manager
13 Blake LivelyTaylor Swift’s friend
14 Aric Jones TravisKelce’s longtime friend
While Swift has certainly left an impression on Kelce’s inner circle, she’s also brought what’s been dubbed the Swift Effect to the NFL as a whole. After she attended her first game, Kelce’s jersey sales reportedly spiked nearly 400 percent, and she’s generated more than $330 million for the NFL and the Chiefs, according to Apex Marketing Group. “She’s the best of the best, so having her come to NFL games, having her part of that, is nothing but a positive,” NFL commissioner Roger Goo dell said at a recent press conference. “I think it’s great to have her a part of it. It creates a buzz, it creates another group of young fans, particularly young women.” Since the couple took their romance public last fall, all eyes have been on them—and Kelce has repeatedly underscored he’s unfazed by the sudden scrutiny. “The attention on them is definitely a lot,” says a source close to the Kelce family, “but Travis has done a great job deflecting and focusing on what’s important.”
‘THESE MEMORIES WILL LAST FOREVER’
—TRAVIS KELCE
Though Super Bowl commitments kept Kelce from supporting his girlfriend at the Grammys, he cheered her on from afar. “She’s rewriting the history books herself. I told her I’ll have to hold up my end of the bargain and come home with hardware too,” he quipped at a press conference the next day. “I’ve heard some of [the new album], yes, and it is unbelievable. I can’t wait for her to shake up the world when it finally drops.” In the coming months Swift has a jam-packed schedule between promoting her new album and the next leg of her international tour, which has 13 dates in Australia and Singapore before her next break. (She’ll also release the concert film The Eras Tour: Taylor’s Version on Disney+ on March 15.) And this time Kelce will be along for the ride too. “It’s been the best few months for them. They are making plans for the summer and are excited to travel together in Europe when Taylor takes her tour there,” the insider says. Adds the Kelce family source: “Football is everything to him. He lives and breathes it. But he’s ready for some downtime now and to show up for Taylor the way she has for him.”
Reporting by DANIELA AVILA , SKYLER CARUSO and ALEX ROSS
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: MIKE KIRSCHBAUM/WYNN LAS VEGAS; DANNY MAHONEY/WYNN LAS VEGAS(3); MIKE KIRSCHBAUM/ WYNN LAS VEGAS; TONY TRAN/WYNN LAS VEGAS