When pop and sports collided: A complete timeline of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's dreamy love affair

Taylor Swift captured the world with the romantic teenage tune of Love Story in her own teens and has been a pop-it girl ever since. From her music launches to dating history, she has been has been a topic of public curiosity for over a decade now. After relationships with celebrities from Calvin Harris to Matt Healy, most recently, Swift ended her 6-year-long relationship with British actor, Joe Alwyn in 2023. Her fans, termed 'Swifties', were sceptical whether she'd find love again; a topic which is usually the subject of her music. Enter Travis Kelce, a professional American football player for the Kansas City Chiefs and the rest was history as the pop star and NFL player have become one of the favourite celebrity couples across the world. 

Scroll below for a timeline of everything about Taylor and Travis; from when the couple started dating to their latest podcast outing.

July, 2023—A crush is revealed

Travis Kelce attended Taylor’s Eras concert at Kansas City tour in Arrowhead Stadium. In the podcast, New Heights, which Travis runs with his brother, Jason Kelce; he shared that he fostered a crush on Swift and tried to meet her during her performance but was unable to do so. “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 shared on the podcast, “So I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.” 

September 2023—Hard Launching  

The ball was now officially in Taylor’s court after the football star had made it apparent he had a crush on her. Interviews attended by Kelce at that point were also filled with questions about his crush on Taylor. 

The singer shocked everybody when she showed up to cheer the Kansas City Chiefs’ player from Kelce’s suite, right beside his mom, Donna, when the team played the Chicago Bears. Later, Travis shared his excitement on the New Heights podcast, once again. “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 and the friends and family — she looked amazing. Everybody was talking about her in great light and on top of that, the day went perfectly for Chiefs fans, of course.”

Later that month, in a cheeky move, the NFL used Taylor Swift’s song Welcome to New York when announcing the Chiefs upcoming game with the New York Jets.  

October 2023—Welcome to New York

For the said match, Kelce flew to Taylor’s city of residence – New York. 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. The official NFL account once more used Welcome to New York; this time in a tweet addressing Taylor with a video of her greeting guests at the stadium before the game. 

In the same month, after the premiere of the Taylor Swift: Eras Tour film in Los Angeles, Swift made her way back to Kansas to watch Kelce’s Thursday Night Football match against the Denver Broncos. It was on October 14; after months of rumours, the two confirmed their relationship when they were spotted walking hand-in-hand for the post-show bash at Catch Steak in New York City following the Saturday Night Live season 49 premiere.

Later that month, photos of Taylor kissing Travis on the cheeks surfaced on the internet; courtesy of Chariah Gordon, who is dating Chiefs’ wide receiver, Mecole Hardman.

November 2023—Karma is the guy on the Chiefs

After officially debuting their relationship, Kelce was spotted at the Eras tour once again, this time as Taylor’s date. In fan-filmed clips, the football star was seen enjoying her tour alongside Swift’s dad, Scott, from a VIP box. The last act of the concert broke the internet as Swift changed the lyrics of Karma from “Karma is the guy in the screen coming straight home to me” to “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.
 
December 2023—Her POV

When Taylor was named as the person of the year for TIME magazine, she opened up about her and Travis’s relationship in the interview. "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. 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", she revealed. 

January 2024—Ringing in the New Year

Taylor and Travis rang in the New Year with a kiss on January 1, 2024 at a party. On January 21, 2024 Taylor finally met Travis’s brother Jason Kelce and his wife, Kylie Kelce. 

Later that month, Travis had Swifties all up in their feelings when, minutes after the Chiefs won against the Baltimore Ravens at the AFC Championship game, he told her he loved her. “Tay, I’m going to enjoy it with the guys,” he told the pop star, who had joined him on the field, before kissing her. “I love you", he announced. Other sweet moments from this game included 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. 

February 2024—Supportive Girlfriend 101

Just hours after closing out her final Eras tour leg in Tokyo, Swift arrived at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to cheer on Kelce and the Chiefs at Super Bowl LVIII with her girl squad. It included Blake Lively, Ice Spice, Lana Del Rey and Swift’s parents, Scott and Andrea, who joined her in chatting with Kelce's family before the game.

Travis accompanied Taylor to Australia for her Sydney show later that month. The 35-year-old pop star once again sung her song Karma, with the new lyrics, “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me.”

April 2024—He knows how to ball; she knows Aristotle 

Taylor made a rare appearance at Coachella alongside Kelce as the couple attended Ice Spice and Bleachers’ festival sets, with full-on PDA and carefree dancing in the crowd.

On April 19, 2024, Swift’s album, The Tortured Poets Department dropped promptly at midnight and their 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. With lyrics such as “You know how to ball; I know Aristotle” it was easy to figure out who So High School was about. 

June 2024—Selfies with the Monarchs 

Travis surprised everyone when he made an Eras tour debut at Wembley Stadium in London. Stepping out in a tuxedo and top hat midway through the Tortured Poets Department set, the NFL star surprised concert-goers by carrying the singer in his arms on the stage. 

Later, Taylor made their relationship Instagram official by posting a selfie with Kelce. 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. 
 
September 2024—Sweet Shoutouts 

Swift and Kelce had one of their most public dates at the 2024 U.S. Open, where they cheered for players at the Men’s Singles Final match with their friends. Their PDA-filled outing went viral online. Later that month at the VMAs, Swift gave Kelce a sweet shout-out during her 'Video Of The Year' acceptance speech for her Fortnight collaboration with Post Malone. 

December 2024—End of the Eras 

As the Eras tour came to an end, Travis gave his girlfriend a shoutout on his New Heights Podcast. “The unbelievable Eras Tour has come to an end,” Travis said. “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.”

February 2025—Super Bowl, once again 

For the second year in a row, Swift came to cheer on her boyfriend at the Super Bowl, this time in the company of Ice Spice and the Haim sisters. Earlier that month, Taylor was seen wearing a 'T' pendant around her thigh at the Grammy Awards. While it could be an initial dedicated to herself, she might have been wearing it as an ode to her partner. 

August 2025—Life Of A Showgirl

On August 12, 2025 Taylor announced her new album, “The Life Of A Showgirl”, when she was a guest on her boyfriend’s and his brother’s podcast. This was Taylor’s debut on the podcast and their interaction together led to many sweet moments coming out of the episode as the two discussed their relationship. 

Edited by Dayle Pereira-Alemao

Also Read: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s best date night couple looks