Pop superstar Taylor Swift reportedly attended Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce's games secretly before going public with their relationship, according to Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt.
“When [Taylor] started to come around, it was privately,’ Merritt said during an appearance on 'The Sports Shop with Reese and K-Mac' podcast this week. “She was coming into the stadiums without people knowing until the camera put a big spotlight on it.”
Swift was first seen attending the Chiefs' 41-10 win against the Chicago Bears at Arrowhead Stadium on September 24, which followed three preseason and two season games in Week 3. The singer's attendance became a polarizing topic, leading to a spike in the popularity for the NFL -- already the top revenue generating sports league in the world -- among a younger, female demographic, but also garnering a response from some fans who complained about the attention it received.
”There were so many people that were hating the fact that she was being shown on the TV that, you know what? You’re part of our family because you’re with Travis,” Merritt said. “So, therefore, you’re our little sister… You’re part of our family.”
Swift had previously confirmed that she and Kelce spent "significant" time together before she was initially spotted at Arrowhead Stadium in September, at which point they were already "a couple," when she publicly addressed the relationship for the first time while being featured as Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year' in December.
“This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his ['New Heights'] podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” Swift said. “We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. 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.”
“When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” Swift added. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”
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