Travis Kelce’s popularity has increased after Taylor Swift was seen supporting him as his Kansas City Chiefs team took on the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
The 33-year-old American soccer player and the 33-year-old singer are reportedly dating and were spotted in public for the first time this weekend after spending time together under the radar for months.
Within 24 hours, Travis had over 300,000 social media followers, saw a 400% increase in merchandise sales, and propelled his jersey into the top five best-selling jerseys in the NFL.
Fans called it the “Taylor Swift effect” as Swifties showed their support for the singer. Travis now has an incredible 3.1 million followers and counting.
Sports and business investor Joe Pompliano wrote on 5.” Selling jerseys in the NFL. This is the Taylor Swift effect.”
This is the Swift effect! Travis Kelce’s popularity has increased after his new “girlfriend” Taylor Swift was seen supporting him as his Kansas City Chiefs team took on the Chicago Bears
The 33-year-old US soccer player and the 33-year-old singer have reportedly been spending time together under the radar for months, with Taylor pictured at his game on Sunday
Rise: Within 24 hours, Travis had over 300,000 social media followers. He now has 3.1 million followers and the number is rising
Wow! According to Fanatics, sales of Kelsey’s No. 87 jersey for the Chiefs saw a 400% increase in sales
According to Fanatics via TMZ, sales of Kelsey’s No. 87 jersey for the Chiefs saw a massive increase since Sunday afternoon.
“Yesterday, Travis Kelce was one of the top five best-selling NFL players, recording a nearly 400% increase in sales across the Fanatics network of sites,” a Fanatics spokesperson told TMZ Sports.
A limited edition red replica Kelce jersey on the NFL Shop website costs fans $175, while a standard player game jersey costs $130.
Luckily for Swifties, the NFL website offers 90-day returns – so if there’s a short-lived romance between the two, they’ll likely get their money back.
Fans couldn’t believe the singer’s influence. One wrote: ‘This is crazy, over 400% increase in sales.’ Swift fans are really supporting.’
“That Swift effect is crazy” and “Ending up in that breakup song might make all of this worth it now.”
“It’s actually the Taylor Swift effect. ‘What can she say?’
Kelce switched up the style as Taylor looked on and scored a touchdown as the Chiefs posted an impressive 41-10 victory over the Bears.
It’s not exactly clear when exactly the two began dating in person, but Travis hinted that a romance was on the cards when he revealed on his New Heights podcast in July that he had hoped to introduce himself to Taylor, when he attended one of their stops on the Eras Tour.
“I wanted to give Taylor Swift a gift [a bracelet] with my number on it,” the tight end shared, but he learned that the singer’s dedication to giving the best performance possible made it impossible to chat with her.
Impressed: Joe Pompliano wrote on
Stunned: Fans couldn’t believe the singer’s influence. One wrote: “This is crazy, an increase in sales of over 400%.” ”Swift fans are very supportive.” “This Swift effect is crazy”
“I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her performances because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs she sings, so I was a little hurt that I couldn’t give her any of the bracelets, that I made for her,” he said.
Taylor added to the burgeoning publicity at Sunday’s game when she arrived alone – aside from her usual bodyguards – to cheer on Travis from a box.
Sources have stressed that the two are not “officially” together.
Taylor is taking a break from her Eras tour, which continues November 9 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In another sign that Taylor and the Kansas City Chiefs star are growing closer, she met his parents at Sunday’s game.
The hitmaker could be seen cheering Travis on while standing next to his mother Donna, and Travis’ father Ed was also in attendance.
Supportive: The Shake It Off singer gave fans a thumbs up as she watched Travis alongside his mother Donna
Is Taylor here? A fan from Kansas City brought a sign hinting at the budding romance to Sunday’s game
Although Taylor and Travis appeared to keep the PDA to a minimum on the way to the Prime Social Rooftop in Kansas City on Sunday after the game, eyewitnesses saw them holding hands as they entered the restaurant
The PDA escalated when Taylor reportedly sat on a soccer player’s lap at one point.
The dinner was only somewhat private as Travis’ family, including his mother Donna, also showed up and some of his teammates stopped by as well.
An eyewitness previously told Entertainment Tonight that it was Travis who bought out the restaurant for the afterparty.
“Taylor arrived in a denim dress and was seen snacking, drinking cocktails and dancing next to Travis,” they said.
Another guest told ET restaurant staff there would be a “hard shutdown” at 8 p.m., and staff handed out to-go boxes before the deadline, but told them they were leaving before that time would have to.
However, they were offered free drinks at the restaurant’s sister venue to ease the inconvenience.
Although some of the guests appeared to question whether the closure was related to Travis and Taylor, the staff reportedly remained tight-lipped.
Taylor split from her long-term partner Joe Alwyn in April after six years together.
She had a brief romance with Matty Healy in 1975, but they parted ways in June.