Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce’s Relationship: A Timeline

The football star was spotted Swift’s Eras Tour stop at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium in July, marking the first public linking between the two.

During an episode of his New Heights podcast, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end recounted his foiled plan to begin wooing the “Karma” singer. Inspired by the lyric “So make the friendship bracelets / Take the moment and taste it” from Midnight’s “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” fans have been trading homemade jewelry at each Eras Tour stop, and Kelce tried to get in on the trend.

“I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,” Kelce said, “so I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”

He went on to explain that the bracelet he wanted to give her had his phone number on it. Evidently, Kelce’s plan was not successful. “She doesn’t meet anybody, or at least she didn’t want to meet me, so I took it personal,” he quipped.

During an interview with NFL+ host Andrew Siciliano, Travis somewhat addressed the rumors. He confirmed his story about trying to shoot his shot at Swift via an Eras Tour friendship bracelet, but that’s as far as he’d reveal. “I said what I said. And I meant what I said when I said it. And you know what, it is what it is,” he said before shutting down further conversation about the pair’s relationship status. “I’m not gonna talk about my personal life.”

The tight end then teased listeners, saying, “I know what you writers wanna hear, and you wanna hear more about that and I’m not gonna give you anything!” When Siciliano asked if Swift had reached out to him, Kelce responded, “And that’s gonna wrap it up here,” thus ending the interview.

Travis’ brother, Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce, was also asked about the pairing during an interview. “I’ve seen these rumors, I cannot comment,” he said of romance speculation

During the game between the Chiefs and the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday (Sept. 17), NFL announcer Ian Eagle slipped in a few Swift lyric references as he called a play from Kelce. “Kelce finds a blank space for the score!” he said, a callback to Swift’s 2014 Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Blank Space.”

NFL Network’s Rich Eisen loaded in plenty of Swift references in his pre-game coverage, as he teased, “You saw it on Thursday night, when Travis Kelce wasn’t in there, it left a ‘blank space,’ but I think he returns today and proves to be the ‘anti-hero.’ Never goes out of ‘style.’”

It was all in good fun, as Kelce himself later commented on Eisen’s medley via Instagram, writing, “Well played Rich…. Well played 👏🏻😂.” See the post here.

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end joined The Pat McAfee Show, where he revealed that he invited Swift to watch him play. “I threw the ball in her court,” he said. “I told her, ‘I’ve seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead.’ We’ll see what happens in the near future.”

He also expressed his surprise at how much publicity their potential relationship has gotten. “It’s hilarious how much traction this has actually got,” the 33-year-old said. “I think it’s, right now, it’s like that old game in school called ‘Telephone,’ where everybody is just whispering in each other’s ear, just hearing some random stuff.”

Swift shocked football fans and Swifties alike when she spent the day cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end from Kelce’s suite alongside his mom, Donna, as the team played the Chicago Bears (and won).

The two also left the stadium together, as seen in a clip sports reporter Jarrett Payton shared on X. In the video, the NFL star nods in greeting to the anchor and asks, “How you doin’” as Tay flashes Payton a smile and says, “Hey!”

Kelce and Swift were then spotted riding off together in his convertible, according to photos acquired by TMZ.

Jason and Travis reflected on the game in their New Heights podcast. “Shoutout to Taylor for pulling up!” Travis said. “That was pretty ballsy. That was pretty ballsy, yeah. I just thought it was awesome how everybody in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her, the friends and family — she looked amazing. Everybody was talking about her in great light and on top of that, the day went perfect for Chiefs fans, of course.”

“To see the slow-motion chest bumps, to see the high-fives with Mom, to see how Chiefs Kingdom was all excited that she was there,” he added. “It was definitely a game I’ll remember, that’s for d–n sure. Then we just slid off in the getaway car at the end. Took my Chevelle to the game.”

The Kansas City Chiefs were set to play the New York Jets, which meant Kelce was in Swift’s area this time — she has a New York City residence. This time around, it was no surprise that the pop icon showed up at MetLife Stadium to support Kelce and his team. She arrived with a group of famous friends, including Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.

“Welcome to New York, it’s been waiting for you,” the official NFL account tweeted to Swift on X before the game began, sharing clips of her greeting others at the stadium and enjoying the game.

After weeks of a rumored romance, Swift and Kelce all but confirmed their budding relationship by arriving hand in hand for the post-show bash at Catch Steak in New York City following the Saturday Night Live season 49 premiere on Oct. 14.

During the Pete Davidson-hosted episode, the singer and NFL star made separate surprise cameos. Swift popped up to introduce musical guest Ice Spice’s second song and Kelce appeared toward the end of a hilarious sketch poking fun at NFL’s recent obsessive coverage of the singer.

Earlier in the evening, Swift and Kelce also grabbed a pre-show dinner at Nobu in NYC, according to photos published by Page Six, which show the lovebirds holding hands once again.

Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium must be starting to feel awfully familiar to Swift, who showed up there in support of Kelce and his team again on Oct. 22 for the Chiefs-Chargers game. She’s now a repeat guest at the stadium, having attended multiple Chiefs games and having brought her own show there twice, once on her Reputation Tour and again on The Eras Tour. On Oct. 22, Swift wore a Chiefs sweatshirt and an ’87’ friendship bracelet in Kelce’s honor, and she had fun watching the game with Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Swift later left the venue with Kelce at her side, holding hands on their way out.

We still remember that look on his face, when Taylor planted a kiss on his cheek! One day after the pop superstar attended the Chiefs vs. Chargers game at Arrowhead Stadium, a photo of Swift giving the Kansas City tight end a sweet smooch surfaced on Instagram courtesy of Chariah Gordon, who is dating Chiefs’ wide receiver Mecole Hardman.

Now that Swift is back on tour, Kelce was spotted at his first Eras show since July, which was when the two were first publicly linked. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end attended her Buenos Aires, Argentina, concert Saturday night (Nov. 11). In fan-filmed clips that were immediately posted to social media, the football star was seen in the VIP tent at Estadio River Plate — with Swift’s dad, Scott, by his side. The night before, Swift and Kelce were seen out to dinner at Argentinian steakhouse Elena, a restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel.

But it was the last act of the concert that really got the crowd’s attention: Swift swapped the “Karma” lyric “Karma is the guy in the screen coming straight home to me” for “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me,” and then ran into Kelce’s arms to kiss him once the show wrapped.

In an in-depth interview with the Wall Street Journal, Kelce explained what exactly went down in between his friendship bracelet phone number fiasco and Swift’s first game day spent at Arrowhead Stadium. Revealing that Swift reached out to him after someone on her team — or possibly a family member — put him on her radar, Kelce also shared that he and the pop star had already been talking for some time before they first met in person in New York.

Taylor and Travis got in the holiday spirit together on the first of December by attending a holiday bar in Kansas City with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes. In fan pictures that surfaced from the night, hosted at Miracle Pop Up, both the “Christmas Tree Farm” singer and tight end donned festive sweaters, meanwhile the Mahomes’ sported matching reindeer onesies.

The pop superstar opened up about when her romance with Travis Kelce began for TIME, who named her its Person of the Year. “This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell … We started hanging out right after that,” she shared of the July 26 episode of his New Heights podcast, in which he revealed that he had made a friendship bracelet with his phone number to give her when he attended her July 8 Eras Tour show at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium.

“By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple,” she revealed. “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.”

Taylor and Travis were each other’s New Year’s kisses as they rang in 2024 at a party. The scene looked like something out of, well, a Taylor Swift song, with the singer looking princess-like in a sparkly gown as confetti rained down overhead.

At the Chiefs’ playoff game against the Buffalo Bills, Taylor finally got to meet Travis’ brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, and sister-in-law Kylie Kelce. And Jason definitely made quite the impression — on both the singer-songwriter and the rest of America: Several videos of him in the box guzzling beer with his shirt off and jumping into the stands to mingle with Bills fans afterward went viral.

“Tay said she absolutely loved you,” Travis revealed after the game on the brothers’ joint podcast New Heights.

“I’m not going to lie, I gave Kylie a heads-up,” recalled Jason. “The moment we get into the suite, I said, ‘I’m taking my shirt off and jumping out of that suite.’ And she said, ‘Jason don’t you dare.’” 

“She was already telling me to be on my best behavior ’cause we were meeting Taylor, so she’s like, ‘Do not. Be on your best behavior,’” he added. “I was like, ‘Kylie, the first day I met you I was blackout drunk and fell asleep at the bar. This is part of the charm. This is part of the Jason Kelce charm. I wanna make my best first impression.’” 

During a Kansas City Chiefs press conference, Travis gave an update about how he and Taylor are handling the public’s attention to their relationship. “As long as we’re happy, we can’t listen to anything that’s outside noise,” he told reporters. “Thats all that matters.”

The athlete added, “I brought this upon myself, and I do enjoy having fun with it all, and the biggest thing is making sure my focus is right here in this building.”

Travis had Swifties in their feels when, minutes after the Chiefs won against the Baltimore Ravens at the AFC Championship gam — earning Kansas City a spot in the Super Bowl for a second year in a row — he told Taylor he loved her.

“Tay, I’m going to enjoy with the guys,” he told the pop star, who had joined him on the field, before kissing her. “I love you.” 

Then, wrapping Tay in a tight hug, he added, “So much it’s not funny.” 

Other sweet moments from the game include Taylor cheering Travis on with his family in a box suite at M&T Bank Stadium in Maryland, kissing him several times on the field, and adoringly watching him give a speech to Chiefs Kingdom.

By this point, Taylor had already confirmed that she and Travis were a couple before she ever stepped foot in Arrowhead Stadium to watch the Chiefs-Bears game in September 2023. But during a visit to the The Pat McAfee Show in late January, the athlete finally revealed the near-exact starting point of the Tayvis timeline.

“We had known each other for close to a month up to that point,” he said. “It wasn’t just an out of the blue, ‘Hey, come to the game.’”

That means Travis started courting the singer either at the end of August or the very beginning of September 2023.

“I love it when Taylor comes and supports me and enjoys the game with the fam and friends,” Kelce told McAFee. “It’s been nothing but a wonderful year, man.” 

Just hours after closing out her final Eras show in Tokyo, Swift arrived at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to cheer on Kelce and the Chiefs at Super Bowl LVIII. She wore a red bomber jacket, bejeweled black pants and an “87” necklace — plus her signature red lip, of course.

The pop star’s posse included Blake Lively, Ice Spice, Lana Del Rey and Swift’s parents, Scott and Andrea, who joined her in chatting with the Kelce family before the game.

Ahead of Taylor’s shows in Sydney, Travis flew out to meet the star in Australia and joined her on a date to the Sydney Zoo on Feb. 22. The pair held hands and took selfies as they checked out the animals.

The next day, Travis danced along to his girlfriend’s Feb. 23 set from a VIP tent with Katy Perry, Rita Ora and Baz Luhrmann, and exchanged friendship bracelets with fans at Accor Stadium. Toward the end of her performance, Taylor once again dedicated an updated “Karma” lyric to the athlete: “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me.”

After the show, the singer emerged from backstage and kissed Travis in the wings.

Swift made a rare appearance at Coachella with Kelce on her arm as the couple attended Ice Spice and Bleachers’ festival sets, packing on the PDA and dancing along in the crowds. “I absolutely love live music,” the tight end later said of the experience on New Heights. “Our guy Jack Antonoff absolutely ripped it.”

“I like to see it from the fans’ perspective, ‘cause I am, I’m a fan of music,” he added of opting to watch the “Munch” rapper’s performance with Swift from the pit instead of a VIP area. “I want to see it from the front of the stage … I think it’s that much more of an experience if you’re in the pit, if you’re in the madness with all the fans.”

When The Tortured Poets Department dropped promptly at midnight April 19, 2024, fans were quick to notice that one of the 16 main tracks on Swift’s new album definitely seemed to be an ode to Kelce. That’s mainly because of the several football vocab words the pop star sprinkled throughout the track, which finds her swooning over an intense, chemically fixed attraction to a new lover.

“When I touch down, call the amateurs and cut ’em from the team,” Swift sings on “The Alchemy.” “These blokes warm the benches/ We’ve been on a winning streak/ He jokes that ‘It’s heroin, but this time with an E.’”

“Shirts off and your friends lift you up over their heads,” she continues in a bridge full of lyrics reminiscent of the couple’s post-Super Bowl celebrations. “Beer sticking to the floor, cheers chanted ’cause they said/ There was no chance trying to be the greatest in the league/ Where’s the trophy? He just comes running over to me.”

Listen to the song below:

While auctioning off four Eras Tour tickets on behalf of Swift at the 15 and The Mahomies Foundation charity gala in Las Vegas, Kelce lovingly referred to the pop star as his “significant other.”

“I was just talking to my significant other, and we might have one other auction item that wasn’t on the docket,” he said in a coy voice. “Has anybody heard of The Eras Tour?”

As bids rose as high as $80,000 for the seats, Swift cheered Kelce on from her spot at Brittany Mahomes’ table. The couple also held hands as they walked through the venue, looking stunning in their evening attire.

At her first Eras Tour concert following the release of The Tortured Poets Department, Swift added several new numbers from the album to her three-hour showcase — including “So High School,” which fans believe she wrote about Kelce. The comeback shows took place in Paris, with the football player in attendance. (“It is absolutely unbelievable,” he later gushed. “I enjoyed every bit of it … I don’t know if they’re just getting better or if I just keep forgetting how they are.”)

During the song, the singer also appeared to pay tribute to her beau’s team by swag surfing with her dancers, a Chiefs Kingdom tradition.

Swift and Kelce shocked the crowd at Wembley Stadium in London when the NFL star joined his superstar girlfriend on stage, stepping out in a tuxedo and top hat midway through the Tortured Poets Department set. In clips from the cameo, the athlete carries the singer in his arms, fans her, dusts her face with a makeup brush and hilariously coaches her on how to dance before her next number: “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”

The following day, Swift shared photos and video from Kelce’s performance and wrote, “I’m still cracking up/swooning over @killatrav’s Eras Tour debut 🥰”

During an appearance on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast, Kelce reflected on the moment he first realized he was falling in love with Swift. “The first game she came to against the Bears, I was like, ‘I could probably set you up with everything,’” he recalled. “And she just walked through the front door. There was no going down, talking to security … She was just like, ‘I want to be around the family and friends and experience this with everybody.’”

The tight end also opened up about feeling proud of his relationship. “You want to keep things private, but at the same time, I’m not here to hide anything,” he explained. “That’s my girl. That’s my lady. I’m proud of that. I’m not sitting here trying to juggle, ‘How can I keep this under wraps?’”

Almost a year into their romance, Swift finally posted a picture with Kelce on her Instagram grid. Their selfie also just so happened to include Prince William and two of his three kids — Prince George and Princess Charlotte — who attended one of the singer’s Eras Tour shows at Wembley Stadium.

“Dude, he was the coolest motherf—-r,” Travis later said on New Heights of the elder prince. “He was so cool. They were an absolute delight to meet. Wasn’t sure if I was supposed to bow to them, curtsy, just be an American idiot and shake their hand … We wanted to be polite, especially on this side of the park.”

In a viral moment from one of Swift’s Dublin concerts, the singer appeared to light up with joy upon spotting Kelce entering the venue. After the show, the tight end escorted his girlfriend out of the backstage area and gestured to the surrounding fans to give her some well-earned applause, making her blush.

While in town, the couple also reportedly hit up a bar alongside Eras opener Paramore and Stevie Nicks.

Kelce was present at Swift’s Eras stop in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, where fan cameras spotted him dancing along to the three-hour-plus set and proudly filming his girlfriend as she sang “So High School,” which fans are pretty certain Swift wrote about him.

He was also in attendance at the star’s show the following night, immediately after which he assumed his unofficial duty of walking her out from the backstage area.

A couple days after Patrick Mahomes revealed that Swift enjoys drawing up her own plays for the Chiefs, Kelce confirmed his girlfriend’s hobby in an interview with The Rich Eisen Show.

“She had just been so open to learning the game,” he explained. “She didn’t know much about the rules and everything … She’s just so detailed and a part of it, that I think she was just curious about the profession. I know none of the plays have gotten to Coach [Andy] Reid yet. If they ever do, I’ll let everyone know it was her creation.”

He added, “She’s a little biased and just creates plays for me.”

After the internet started circulating documents that allegedly outlined what Kelce’s PR strategy would be if he and Swift ever broke up, the tight end’s team was quick to debunk them.

“These documents are entirely false and fabricated and were not created, issued, or authorized by this agency,” stated a spokesperson for Full Scope Public Relations, which represents Kelce. “We have engaged our legal team to initiate proceedings against the individuals or entities responsible for the unlawful and injurious forgery of documents.”

Swift and Kelce had one of their most public dates at the 2024 U.S. Open, where they cheered on the players at the Men’s Singles Final match alongside a group of friends that included Patrick Mahomes and Brittany Mahomes. While there, the singer and tight end maintained a steady stream of PDA and rocked out to The Darkness’ “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.”

Fans at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards erupted into ear-splitting cheers when Swift gave Kelce a sweet shout-out during her video of the year acceptance speech, having secured the prestigious Moon Person for her “Fortnight” collaboration with Post Malone.

“This video seems very sad when you watch it, but it was actually the most fun video to make,” she told the crowd before recalling how the tight end was present on the shoot. “I would always just hear someone cheering, like, ‘Whoo!’ from across the studio — that one person was my boyfriend, Travis. Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic, so I want to thank him for adding that to our shoot.”

Moments after Kansas City won 26-13 against the New Orleans Saints, Kelce joined his superstar girlfriend in her viewing area at Arrowhead Stadium for a sweet PDA-filled moment captured by fans. In one video, Swift hangs onto the tight end’s arm as he chats with a person who appears to be his father, Ed Kelce, before pulling Travis’ face toward hers for a kiss.

The New Heights host then wraps the 14-time Grammy winner in a tight hug, the pair swaying back and forth.

During Swift’s Indianapolis stop on her Eras Tour on Nov. 2, eagle-eyed fans spotted the Kansas City Chiefs tight end in the VIP section of the Lucas Oil Stadium, alongside Swift’s mom. In a fan-captured TikTok, Kelce was seen dancing along with his girlfriend’s mom to the Tortured Poets Department track “So High School,” with the fan filming offering an audible “oh my god” at his moves.

“The unbelievable Eras Tour has come to an end,” Travis said on his New Heights podcast. “Shout out to everybody that was a part of that show. Obviously, it’s her music, her tour and everything, but that was a full production, man. That thing was the best tour in the world because of a lot of people, but mostly because of Taylor.”

When Jason asked how many shows Swift had in the books following the summation of her $2 billion tour — which kicked off in March 2023 — Travis replied, “149 or 152. I forget which one it was. Somewhere in there. A f–k ton is how I sum it up.”

Swift turned 35 on Dec. 13, and her friends and family surprised her with a fitting Eras Tour-themed birthday bash.

During one sweet moment in the night, Kelce recreated a special moment during the show in which the singer gives her hat to a lucky fan while performing “22.” In a photo from the event, Travis is seen in his outfit from his surprise “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” moment putting the black top hat on his girlfriend.

See the photo here.

Swift attended her second Super Bowl in a row on Feb. 9, 2025, showing up to support Kelce alongside Ice Spice, MGK and more stars.

Unfortunately, the game ended with a less desirable outcome than Swift’s first Super Bowl, with the Chiefs losing 22-40 to the Philadelphia Eagles. The tight end was visibly upset on the field in the moments after the loss, but afterward, he was able to joke that his superstar girlfriend’s music had been helping him through that particular heartbreak.

After years of publicly butting heads with Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun over the sale of her master recordings in 2019 — plus four Taylor’s Version album re-recordings — Swift finally purchased the rights to her first six LPs in May 2025.

The following month, Travis celebrated his partner’s feat on New Heights by cheering, “[She] just bought all her music back … so it’s finally hers.”

Later, Taylor would appear on New Heights and reveal that she collapsed crying into Travis’ arms when she first got the news that she’d successfully acquired her catalog.

Swift accompanied Kelce at his 2025 Tight End University summit in Nashville, appearing alongside him at opening ceremonies and later playing a surprise performance of “Shake It Off” with Kane Brown and his band at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville.

Later, Kelce would proudly boast about how his girlfriend didn’t even practice before getting up onstage to sing for his guests. “Tay just kind of went up to him and the band and went, ‘Hey, if you guys are down, I’ll go up there, play a song and see if we can pop the roof off this place,’” he recalled on New Heights. “And then just went out there without practicing, and it was pitch-perfect. [She] just killed it.”

While appearing on an episode of Bussin’ With the Boys, Travis refuted claims that he and Swift purposefully try to attract attention when they step out in public. “It gets thrown out there, like we’re trying to seek attention every now and then,” he said on the podcast. “We’re just enjoying life and having fun, going to hockey games. [I’m] kind of introducing her to some more of the sports world.”

After about two years of keeping his relationship with Swift largely off of his social media accounts, Kelce surprised fans by sharing numerous photos of himself and the singer on Instagram captioned, “Had some adventures this offseason.”

In the pics, he and Swift pose together in matching ship captain hats, get cozy together at a restaurant and play in the snow. Other photos show the tight end with the hitmaker’s brother, Austin, as they hang out with Jason Kelce outdoors — proving that the Kelce and Swift families are super tight.

In a GQ cover story, Kelce opened up about how he and Swift fell in love completely “organically,” despite having the world’s attention on them at all times.

“Whenever I’m with her, it feels like we’re just regular people,” he told the publication. “When there is not a camera on us, we’re just two people that are in love … We fell in love just based off the people we were sitting in a room together with. We are two fun-loving people who have the morals to appreciate everyone for who they are. We share all those values. It kind of just took the f–k off.”

In that same interview, Kelce also noted how Swift shares important traits with his mom, Donna — “Their kindness, their genuineness, their ability to say hello to everyone in the room” — as well as gushed about how the couple loves being each other’s “plus one.”

After two years of dating, Swift finally appeared on Kelce’s podcast — and she covered a lot of ground while she was there.

In addition to opening up about reclaiming her masters, rediscovering her hobbies post-Eras Tour and taking care of her dad, Scott, after he underwent heart surgery, the pop star revealed details about her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl — which Kelce had helped her announce to the world via a New Heights teaser clip the day prior to the full episode’s premiere — on the show. She also shared her side of the story of how Kelce won her over with his failed Eras friendship bracelet plot two years prior, something she jokingly called a “man tantrum.

“He didn’t even reach out to our management,” Swift said on New Heights, laughing. “When this podcast came out, I was like, ‘Did he ever reach out to be, like, in the tents, or did we know he was in the building?’ He came with [Patrick Mahomes], and he thought that because he knows the elevator lady that he could talk to her about just getting down to my dressing room.

“It felt more like I was in an ’80s John Hughes movie, and he was standing outside of my window with a boombox saying, ‘I want to date you! Do you want to go on a date with me? I made you a friendship bracelet! Do you want to date me?’” she added. “I was like, ‘If this guy’s not crazy, this is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.’”