Traylor is the hottest thing going in football.
The budding romance between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce couldn’t have come at a better time for the NFL. Coming off the first U.S. swing of her wildly popular Eras Tour, Swift is an economy unto herself, with people spending thousands of dollars to witness just a few hours of her greatness.
Kelce has become one of the biggest stars in the league, with the eight-time Pro Bowler and two-time Super Bowl champ popping up in commercials for Campbell’s Soup and (uh-oh!) Bud Light.
The match between the two was instantly one of the biggest Hollywood-sports romances of all time. If the couple has legs, it could reach Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe status.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, it’s been some speculation now-famously confirmed with Swift’s surprise appearance at the dismantling of the Chicago Bears at the hands of Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs.
And everyone is talking about it.
Fox had a camera on Swift seemingly the entire game.
The joyous romp at Arrowhead Stadium even brought a smile to New England Patriots coach and avowed Swiftie Bill Belichick who — not known for his levity — called Swift the “biggest catch” of Kelce’s career.
In a career that’s seen a lot of big catches, he’s not wrong.
What makes this such a phenomenon is how it has seeped well beyond the sports media, with publications like Entertainment Tonight and Entertainment Weekly covering the spectacle.
USA Today’s headline on Monday: “Who’s Travis Kelce? What Taylor Swift fans need to know.”
Which brings me to — and this is what in journalism we call “burying the lede” — the gay Swifties.
Swift is to this younger generation of gays what Madonna was to my generation, a musical artist who has so reached gay icon status that if you hear one of her songs pouring out of a guy’s headphones at the gym, you immediately assume “gay.”
At the same time, we’ve been trained to assume every guy screaming at a TV in a sports bar on a Sunday afternoon in September must be straight.
Of course, neither of these is true, though every stereotype has its roots. Yes, more straight guys call themselves “passionate sports fans” than gay guys. Yes, in all likelihood, there are more gaggles of gays shelling out $2,000 for a Taylor Swift ticket than groups of straight bros.
But what happens when the two worlds collide? When suddenly the gay icon makes NFL games — and in particular (gulp) Chiefs games — must-watch TV?
If many of my gay-sports-fan friends are any indication, they’ll find the NFL fills that blank space left by a waning summer. When the pool parties, trips to Fire Island and volleyball on the beach pass into the rearview mirror, waiting for you is the excitement of football, an excitement that Swift certainly expressed at the game on Sunday.
While the ride is fun, don’t expect to see Swift at many more Chiefs games this season, as the international leg of her tour starts in Argentina Nov. 9.
And if the Chiefs make it to the Super Bowl this season, what are the chances that Swift makes an appearance? She plays a show in Tokyo the day before, then in Melbourne later that week.
So we all may have to wait until the following year, when there could be no better choice for Super Bowl Halftime performer than Swift herself.
And you thought tickets to the Eras Tour were expensive?
Combining Swift and the NFL is a marriage of epic proportions, and the gay Swifties very well may be here for it.
