ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs’ star tight end, weren’t even dating during preseason training camp last year.
This year, her fans have got it covered.
Long before the Chiefs began reporting last week to the quiet campus of Missouri Western University, Swifties were posting design concepts for Kelce’s camp dorm room on social media and speculating whether the players would have “sleepovers.” When players showed up toting their own circulating fans, Swifties took umbrage at Coach Andy Reid’s spartan conditions. They’re planning “Taygate” parties for the season and home opener against the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5.
On Sunday, dozens of newly minted Chiefs fans braved a broiling sun for their first training camp experience, clutching “87” jerseys, tiny footballs and Swift merchandise, and hoping to get a glimpse of their new favorite player.
Some had come from far away, like Hannah Calhoun, who traveled with her parents more than 600 miles from Lexington, Ky. The 16-year-old was wearing a T-shirt that read “Who’s Travis Kelce Anyway?” Trademark Swiftie friendship bracelets encircled her wrists. She approves of the tight end because of the gentlemanly way he treats Swift.
“He actually opens the door for her and stuff like that; a lot of her exes didn’t do that,” she said.
The famous pair had yet to connect at this point last year, with Travis complaining to brother Jason on their “New Heights” podcast that Swift had shot him down. He said he was “butt hurt” that the singer wouldn’t see him after her recent Kansas City show, in part because he had made a bracelet he wanted to give her. It had his phone number on it.
Six weeks later, the couple made their budding relationship public when Swift appeared in the Kelce family suite for the Chiefs’ season home opener at Arrowhead Stadium. After the game, they hopped into his Chevelle convertible and headed off into the sunset - for real.
The fairy-tale romance mirrored his team’s 2023 fairy-tale season, which not only saw a merger of two great forces in American culture - Taylor Swift and NFL fans - but also culminated in an overtime Super Bowl victory against the San Francisco 49ers. During the celebration, Kelce and Swift kissed and embraced on field as red and gold confetti rained down.
“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you,” Swift told him. “Oh my God.”
In the offseason, “TNT” - as Travis and Taylor are now known - have had a Hot Couple Summer, with Kelce jetting across the pond to support his girlfriend at Eras Tour stops in Amsterdam, Germany and London. He even appeared onstage at Wembley Stadium (she in a white couture gown, he in a black tux and top hat) during her new song “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”
The Chiefs’ offseason, on the other hand, has been anything but glamorous. In April, rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice was arrested after he crashed his Lamborghini while speeding on a busy Dallas freeway, injuring four and abandoning the scene, leaving his playbook behind. In May, kicker Harrison Butker went viral for his comments at a Catholic college’s commencement address that disparaged LGBTQ people and career women. When the team unveiled its diamond-encrusted Super Bowl rings in a glitzy ceremony in June, they had a typo.
Now football fans say it’s time to get back to the business of #winning. Some hope for a 3-Peat, a third consecutive Super Bowl victory, which has never happened in NFL history. Others are pining for a “TNT” engagement.
“Maybe they will get married,” said Grace Clark, a 9-year-old from Mendon, Mo., who was attending camp for her first time with her family. “Did they already get married?” she asked a groundskeeper, who laughed and said he didn’t think so.
“She’s a famous singer. He’s a famous football player. It just works,” Grace declared.
“I think they might be secretly engaged already,” said Chelsie Hahn, 27, a first-grade teacher from Liberty, Mo. She’s a lifelong Chiefs fan and saw Swift at the debut show of her Eras Tour last year. For her, Swifties are always welcome in Chiefs Kingdom.
“I don’t care as long as they’re supporting my team!” Hahn said. But, she added, “I worry about what will happen if they break up. You don’t want Swifties turning against your Chiefs.”
A small knot of fans gathered in the northern end zone. The scrimmage continued for more than two hours. Misting tents offered only scant relief.
“This is the longest practice I have ever been to,” sighed Marley Bergen, 15, from Leavenworth, Kan.
A few moments later, Kelce obligingly caught a short pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes just yards away. A cheer went up.
Ryan Carter, 34, a construction worker, was following the plays. He’s been watching Chiefs games since he was nearly 4 and is amused by all the new people coming to Chiefs games and events. He can always distinguish the “bandwagoners” and the “die-hard fans.”
“A bandwagoner will just yell out ‘Taylor,’ and that’s all they yell,” he said. “I don’t dislike her, but she’s not the one out there on the field.”
“She stole my man,” quipped his girlfriend, Amanda Berry, 35, a paralegal from Blue Springs, Mo. “I like her songs as much as the next person, but I’m not a die-hard Swiftie, and I’m jealous she got him and I didn’t.”
As practice ended, fans surged to the barricade surrounding the field, hoping Kelce - who was scheduled to give autographs along with the rest of the receivers - would stop and sign.
“Travis! Do it for your girlfriend!” hollered 11-year-old Molly Chambers, a Chiefs flag and Taylor Swift picture book in her hands.
Eric Gold, who dates Molly’s mother, Jill Chambers, was nearby blasting “Karma” on a personal speaker, thinking the song - the one in which Swift had modified the lyrics to say “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs …” - would entice Kelce to stop.
Alas, no. Kelce sauntered over to the opposite end of the field and greeted fans there. Molly had to content herself with another tight end, Noah Gray, who signed her Chiefs flag and accepted a friendship bracelet.
“I did my best,” she told her mother.
“You did awesome,” Mom replied.
