In recent years, Travis Kelce made a name for himself as half of one of the most talented sibling duos in NFL football, which seemingly peaked with his SNL hosting gig (which Payton Manning advised him on). But that was before he may or may not have entered a vaunted list of gents whom the zeitgeist-carrying Taylor Swift has called a significant other. The duo haven’t technically confirmed rumors saying in big tall letters that they’re dating, but the pop star dropping F-bombs at the latest Chiefs game next to the Kelces’ mom made it seem all but official. Now, the talented tight end has addressed the topic himself, and seems to be aware of what he’s gotten roped into.
Travis and Jason Kelce co-host the weekly podcast New Heights, during which they talk out lots of NFL news, game highlights, personal anecdotes, and more from their decades of impact both on the field and off. In the latest ep, the brothers address the elephant in the room: his friendship and maybe more with Swift, as well as the massive amount of public attention that surrounded her being in the stadium suite with the Kelce matriarch and other family members. In his words:
That was pretty ballsy, it was pretty ballsy. I just thought it was awesome how everybody in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her, you know, the friends and family. She looked amazing. Everybody was talking about her in the a great light, and on top of that, the the day went perfect for Chiefs fans, of course. [Laughs.] We script it all, ladies and gentlemen. It was just impressive. . . . It was absolutely [electric]. To see the slow motion chest bumps to see the high fives with mom to see how you know Chiefs kingdom was all excited that she was there, that shit was absolutely hysterical. And it was it was definitely a game I'll remember, that's for damned sure.
Considering the Chiefs totally routed the Chicago Bears from nearly the start of the game, it did indeed become a bit more exciting to see what Taylor Swift & Co. were up to in the box, since it was slightly less predictable than what was happening on the field. Not a bad thing for everyone watching live and at home, of course, unless those people were Bears fans.
After talking about the game itself, Jason Kelce dropped the gauntlets and asked his brother to actually address the rumors that he and Swift are an item, which the NFL great did in the most non-direct way possible, while completely owning up to the fact that he is partially responsible for his public and personal lives being put under the social media microscope. Here's how he put it:
Well, one, I know I brought all this attention to me, right? I'm the one that did the whole friendship bracelet thing and told everybody how butthurt I was that I didn't get to meet Taylor. Yeah, I mean, you miss 100% of what you don't take, baby. So yeah, I think what's real is that it is my personal life, and I want to respect both of our lives. She's not in the media as much as I am doing this show every single week and having fun during the NFL season on other guys shows like The McAfee show and any other show that I go on from here on out.
Fans probably shouldn't expect to hear this kind of conversation happening every week on the podcast, however, no matter what happens with Swift on or off the field. (And I'm guessing no one should anticipate him addressing the past cheating rumors in any capacity.) Travis Kelce closed that convo out by saying he'd likely be keeping the subject matter tied strictly to his day job in the future.
So, like you said on that Thursday night game, I'm enjoying life and I sure as hell enjoyed this weekend. So everything moving forward, I think me talking about sports and saying 'Alright now' will have to be kind of where I keep it.
Although it might be worth bringing up the Swfities each week if sales for Travis Kelce's female NFL jerseys continues to rise like they have. His co-host noted that there was a 400% jump in sales after the game that the pop star attended.
New episodes of New Heights drop every Wednesday morning on both YouTube and your podcast app of choice. While waiting for the next one, as well as Kelce’s next game, head to our 2023 TV premiere schedule to see what’s hitting the small screen soon.
