The rumored romance between Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been the central storyline of the early part of the NFL season (although Aaron Rodgers may not agree), and at least one player hopes to use it to his advantage.
The Chiefs, fresh off a third consecutive win after they edged the New York Jets in front of Swift as well as a mammoth TV audience, will travel to the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 8. Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. is acutely aware of how the Swift-Kelce situation has been welcomed by the league.
“Oh, man, the social media is going crazy,” Murphy said Oct. 2, according to ESPN. “And I’m not hating against it. That’s the world we’re living in. Is she going to come to this game? We’re locked in, but that would be something. I’ve been watching her since I was a kid. That would be cool, for sure.
“Not for him, because we’re going to try to get our hands on him in front of her.”
Murphy also teased the possibility of using the rumored relationship to bait Kelce.
“I’m going to say something to him to get him going,” he said.
The Chiefs enter the matchup at 3-1, while the Vikings are 1-3. It is not clear if the "Blank Space" singer plans to travel to Minnesota to watch the game in person.
Swift has become as much of a presence at Chiefs games as the team’s red helmets. Prior to the matchup at the Jets, she sent fans into a tizzy when she sat with Kelce’s mother during the team’s home win against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 24. During that game, Kelce caught seven passes for 69 yards and one touchdown. He had a somewhat pedestrian game by his standards against the Jets, hauling in six catches for 60 yards and no touchdowns.
The game against the Jets was nationally televised on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” reeling in an average of 27 million viewers, making it the most-watched Sunday program since the Super Bowl in February.
The Swift effect, which even saw the Chiefs swapping friendship bracelets inspired by her, has also been a marketing boon. After she attended the game against the Bears, sales of Kelce’s jersey soared with “a nearly 400% spike in sales throughout the Fanatics network of sites, including NFLShop.com,” a spokesperson for the sportswear company told The Associated Press via email.