Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce called out the NFL, saying the league is “overdoing it a little bit” with the focus on Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift.
Speaking with his brother, Eagles center Jason Kelce, on their podcast “New Heights,” Travis Kelce discussed Swift’s attendance at Sunday night’s Chiefs game against the Jets, which Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Hugh Jackman also attended.
“They are not there to get thrown on the TV,” Travis Kelce said on Wednesday’s episode. “You never know, you get caught throwing down a big old cheeseburger and you look like an idiot. There are certain things you just don’t want to be on TV at all times.”
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Swift also appeared in the Kelce family’s box at the Chiefs game against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 24. Her attendance at both games has boosted merchandise sales and viewership numbers. Ticket resale platform StubHub saw a 175% jump in Chiefs-Jets ticket sales three days after Swift’s appearance at the Sept. 24 Chiefs game, a representative for the company told CBS News. Nearly 20% of tickets for the Oct. 1 game were sold the night of Swift’s appearance.
“I think a few of them might have been there for Deadpool and Taylor,” Jason Kelce said, referencing Reynolds’ role in the “Deadpool” movies.
The Eagles player pointed to the NBA for ways to cover celebrities attending sports events.
“I just think the NFL’s not used to celebrities coming to the games. Like basketball has it figured out. They’re all courtside, they’re sitting there, they show them once or twice and then they get back to the game,” Jason Kelce said. “The NFL is like ‘look at all these A-list celebrities at the game!'”
In addition to showing Swift at the games multiple times, the league also promoted her appearances heavily on social media. The NFL changed the banner image on its X account, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, to photos of the pop icon recently, although that has since changed to a promotion for an upcoming game.
The NFL also posted a video of Swift talking to Lively at the game on its Instagram account. It was captioned: The @chiefs are 2-0 with @taylorswift in attendance.
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Travis Kelce thinks football and Swift fans are overwhelmed right now.
The Chiefs star first broke his silence about Swift in late September during a previous episode of his “New Heights” podcast as questions were swirling about whether the two were dating. He said he was on a “rollercoaster of life,” since Swift’s first appearance at a Chiefs game. He said Swift coming to the game was “ballsy” of her.
“I just thought it was awesome how everyone in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her,” Travis Kelce said. “You know, the friends and family. She looked amazing, everybody was talking about her in a great light.”
