KANSAS CITY.- Travis Kelce is happy to have Taylor Swift join the Kansas City Chiefs on their way to the Super Bowl. In case that hadn’t been evident after his kiss on the field after the AFC title game. In the latest episode of his podcast New Heightshe tight end of the Chiefs and his brother, the center Eagles’ Jason Kelce joked about how the 12-time Grammy winner has arrived at just the right time.
Swift began dating Travis Kelce after he invited her to a game earlier this season, and has been a regular attendee at Chiefs games ever since.
“Shout out to the newest member of the Chiefs Kingdom, Swift, who has officially made it to the Super Bowl in her rookie year,” Jason Kelce said in the podcast released Wednesday, before Travis added with a laugh: “A Shout out to Tay. Thanks for joining the team.”
It remains to be seen if Swift makes it to the Super Bowl against the 49ers on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.
The star is scheduled to resume his Eras tour next week with four concerts in Tokyo. Their last date is Saturday night. If he took a private plane between the two cities, and taking into account the time difference, Swift could cover the distance in approximately 12 hours, giving him enough time to arrive at Allegiant Stadium before kickoff.
Speaking of flights, American Airlines and United Airlines jumped aboard, so to speak, of Taylor and Travis’ romance this week. Flight 1989 – Swift was born that year and refers to the title of her fifth studio album – will fly twice from Kansas City to Las Vegas next week, while Flight 87, Kelce’s jersey number, leaves Kansas City the day after the Super Bowl.
“To our customers who are big sports fans, look what you made us do,” American said in a statement to The Associated Press in a quote that references the song. Look What You Made Me Do the Swift.
Does Taylor influence the audience?
Kelce and Swift had tried to keep their relationship out of the spotlight, although it has become increasingly difficult.
That has been evident during the game broadcasts, television stations have received criticism from NFL fans for showing too much of the singer’s celebrations. Shake It Off in the suites where he watches games, often with Brittany Mahomes, wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, by his side.
Still, the Swift effect appears to be real when it comes to expanding the NFL’s audience.
CBS, which broadcast the Chiefs’ 17-10 victory over Baltimore on Sunday, broke the AFC title game record with 55.47 million afternoon viewers; the previous record was 54.85 million for the Jets-Steelers game in 2011.
That represented a 17% increase from last year’s conference championship game between San Francisco and Philadelphia. In fact, the Chiefs-Ravens game was the most-watched non-Super Bowl show on CBS since the 1994 Winter Olympics.
That’s not all thanks to Swift, of course.
The Chiefs, heading to their fourth Super Bowl in five years, are one of the most visible franchises in the league. Mahomes and Kelce have played charity golf games, Kelce has also hosted Saturday Night Live and both have become nearly ubiquitous in television ads selling everything from insurance to soup.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said last week that he appreciates the way Kelce has focused on his job amid everything else.
“I haven’t really seen it affect him in any way,” Reid said. “I haven’t seen anything with his relationship, with his things off the field, with the commercials, Saturday Night Live, All those things. It just goes away. I think all of that plays into who he is. That’s just one part. He makes all those things very easy. I don’t think that takes it out of his personality and he has to change at all.”
Its effect on Travis
Kelce has certainly been playing his best during the playoffs this season. He had seven catches for 71 yards in a wild-card round win over Miami, five catches for 75 yards and two scores in a divisional win over Buffalo.
Last weekend he tore apart the Ravens’ seemingly impregnable defense with 11 catches on 11 attempts for 116 yards and a score.
Along the way, the four-time All-Pro passed Jerry Rice for the postseason receptions record with 156. He tied Rice with his eighth playoff game of at least 100 receiving yards. And his 21 postseason starts are by far a franchise record.
That’s a lot for Swift, and the Chiefs, to celebrate.
“She’s been great,” Reid said on SiriusXM this week. “I knew her from before, from Philadelphia. Her dad played at Delaware and was a big football fan and a good guy. So I met him there, and she. And that was the last thing Trav wanted to hear, that I met her. I met him before him. She said, ‘I know your coach,’ and he said, ‘Oh my God, let’s go!’
“She’s a good girl,” Reid added. “And I’m happy for Trav. And there have been no distractions in that sense. And Trav’s handled it well. He’s handled it well. And we moved on. So it hasn’t been a problem at all.”
Source: AP
