Timeline of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship: Eras tour to engagement
She ended up dating the boy on the football team and is now headed for the holy ground of matrimony.
It’s been a long time coming for Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end, whose romance has captivated the pop music world for two years. The two announced their engagement on Tuesday.
The first conclusive evidence of the pair seeing each other came on Sept. 24, 2023, when Swift showed up to Arrowhead Stadium to witness Kelce’s Chiefs thump the Chicago Bears.
Her attendance shocked and thrilled the world, but some people may also be confused how this budding romance began.
Rumors about the two potentially dating had been circling the internet since the summer of 2023, and many of Swift’s fans were rooting for the relationship.
News broke in April 2023 that Swift, 33, ended her six-year relationship with actor Joe Alwyn just as her world tour was picking up steam in the United States. Kelce, 33, appears to have remained single after breaking up with his longtime girlfriend and sports journalist Kayla Nicole in 2022.
A source close to the “Anti-Hero” singer confirmed to NBC News that Swift and Kelce were “hanging out” but things between them were in early stages.
While Swift has already done a lot in life greater than just dating the boy on the football team, there might still be room for Kelce in the pop superstar’s world.
‘A friendship bracelet and a dream’
Kelce, 33, did more than just drop a hint that he was interested in Swift — he publicly declared his interest in her to the world.
The Chief’s tight end attended the Eras Tour in July 2023 when Swift was performing at Arrowhead Stadium, his team’s home turf. Her fans, who call themselves “Swifties,” posted about his appearance on social media.
Kelce and his brother, Jason Kelce, later discussed his appearance at the concert on their podcast “New Heights” and a clip of it was posted to their TikTok account July 2023. He said he attended the show and was “butt hurt” that Swift wasn’t able to speak to him prior to her performance.
“If you’re up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets,” Kelce said. “And I received a bunch of them being there, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it.”
“Your number as in 87, or your phone number?” his brother asked.
“You know which one,” Kelce joked back.
As one Taylor Swift fan account noted on X, “he had a friendship bracelet and a dream.”
Kelce explained that Swift probably didn’t see anyone in an effort to save her voice, or maybe she just didn’t want to see him. But that was enough to get headlines written and the seed planted in the minds of fans all over the world.
The Kelce brothers keep dropping hints
All was quiet on the Kelce and Swift front for the next few weeks, as she was still completing the first U.S. leg of her tour and released her “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” re-recording. In that time she also announced the upcoming release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” during a concert in Los Angeles.
A playful moment dropped August 2023 when Chiefs social media did a TikTok video questioning players about their celebrity crushes.
“Mine was…” Kelce pondered.
“Taylor Swift?” his teammate interrupted, causing Kelce to chuckle before moving on.
The cheeky clip was brushed aside by many as mischievous teasing between teammates at the time.
But hints started to drop again at the end of August, through the Kelce brothers’ podcast. The NFL’s preseason had begun and the brothers were discussing Kelce’s annual training camp mustache in their Aug. 31 podcast episode.
“Have you found out what Taylor Swift thinks of your mustache?” his brother asked.
“Yeah, we’re not going to bring up Taylor Swift in this episode,” Kelce deflected with a chuckle. “But something tells me she’s gonna like it.”
That one-liner was enough to resurface the speculation that maybe Swift and Kelce were seeing each other after her tour schedule slowed down in early August.
Finally, Kelce was asked in an interview on “The Pat McAfee Show” whether the headlines about his personal life bothered him. The Chiefs tight end said he found all the speculation “hilarious,” likening the the entire situation to a childhood game of “telephone.”
“I threw the ball in her court,” Kelce said, setting the record straight. “I told her, I’ve seen you rock a stage in Arrowhead and you might have to come see me rock the stage at Arrowhead. We’ll see what happens in the near future.”
Swift cheers Kelce on, seemingly confirming the rumors
Swift obviously took him up on the offer and showed up to Arrowhead Stadium to watch Kelce play against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 24, 2023. She was seen in a private suite with Kelce’s mother, Donna, cheering him on while decked out in Chiefs colors.
The pop superstar was later seen leaving the stadium with Kelce, telling him in a video clip posted to the X that “it was the best.”
Many of Swifts’ fans were simply delighted to see her having a good time at the game, posting jokes all across social media about her enthusiasm, her potential romance and her turning her back on her hometown team, the Eagles.
Kelce discussed her appearance on a September 2023 episode of his podcast, calling it “a game to remember.”
“Shoutout to Taylor for pulling up, that was pretty ballsy!” he said on the episode of “New Heights,” which he co-hosts with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce.
“I just thought it was awesome how everybody in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her, the friends and family,” he added. “She looked amazing. Everyone was talking about her in great light.”
He joked that Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid played matchmaker: “I know that he had met the Swift family before, so I don’t know, he could have been in the background the whole time.”
Swift’s time at the game was given the meme treatment while people also celebrated Kelce as a deviation from previous men in Swift’s life, including former boyfriend Alwyn and her recent interlude with Matt Healy, The 1975’s frontman. Unlike those men, Kelce is American, and his career is based in athletics, not the arts.
Swift is a record-breaking musician at the height of her fame, and Kelce is a multiple Super Bowl champion, so it’s unsurprising that it would be difficult for them to get to know each other privately.
“Also reminder that casual dating is a thing even for celebrities — going on a date or two does not make anyone official,” one fan wrote on X.
Others also chimed in, saying they didn’t care whether the relationship was serious but that it was nice to see Swift “having fun.”
Love on the podcast
Swift was a guest on the Kelce brothers’ podcast on Aug. 13, getting teary-eyed telling Travis and Jason how overjoyed she was over buying back the master recordings of her music.
Swift used the “New Heights” podcast to announce her new album “The Life of a Showgirl,” which she had penned during her Eras tour in Europe.
Swift described how blown away she was by Travis Kelce’s very public courting of her saying how she could only imagine such a romantic pursuit.
“This is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager,” Swift said of the wooing.
And baby, she just said yes
The couple announced they were engaged in an Instagram post on Tuesday, featuring a slideshow of photos from the proposal, along with a shot of the large diamond set in yellow gold.
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” the post’s caption said.
