Taylor Swift is enjoying America’s favorite sport — all thanks to boyfriend Travis Kelce. The “Anti-Hero” singer, 33, revealed in her new interview for Time’s 2023 Person of the Year that after attending a few Kansas City Chiefs football games to cheer on Kelce, she’s taken to the sport quite a lot.
“Football is awesome, it turns out,” said Swift, adding, “I’ve been missing out my whole life.” Swift noted to the magazine that by the time she attended her first Chiefs game on Sept. 24, she and the Chiefs tight end had already been “hanging out” after he revealed on his podcast that he had failed to give the singer a friendship bracelet with his number on it. “So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other,” she said, clarifying the timeline of their relationship. “By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.” The Grammy winner said that when it comes to being in a relationship, it also means supporting each other, which is something she’s happy to do when she attends one of Kelce’s games. “When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” Swift said, adding, “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”
Swift’s presence at the games seemed to have not only boosted Kelce’s spirit, but also NFL’s TV ratings. According to FOX Sports, Swift’s appearance at the Chief’s Sept. 24 game was the week’s highest-rated telecast on any network, with 24.3 million viewers. Additionally, Travis’ brother Jason Kelce also noted on the brothers’ podcast that 2 million female viewers tuned in after Swift was spotted at the Jets vs. Chiefs game. However, Swift has also drawn some negative attention from her attendance in the games. Some football fans criticized the NFL for its coverage of Travis and Swift, especially after it changed its bio on its official Instagram account to read, “chiefs are 2-0 as swifties.” Fans also noted that the NFL appeared to show favoritism toward one team over another. Others also voiced their annoyance at seeing the “Cruel Summer” singer constantly on the broadcast — something which the singer said she had no control over. “I don’t know how they know what suite I’m in,” Swift said. “There’s a camera, like, a half mile away, and you don’t know where it is, and you have no idea when the-camera is putting you in the broadcast, so I don’t know if I’m being shown 17 times or once.” But the singer said she is only there for one purpose. “I’m just there to support Travis,” she said, adding, “I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads and Chads.”
