A timeline of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s touchdown romance

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s romance is entering its second season. Of football.

Thursday marks the second installment of what came to be known by some as “Football (Taylor’s Version),” a moniker born after Swift attended a Kansas City Chiefs game in September 2023 to watch Kelce, the team’s tight end, on the field amid romance rumors.

Though it is not known whether Swift will attend the first game of the season – and if she does, you’ll likely see her on the broadcast – the pair has kept busy during the off-season, including Swift drafting up plays for the Chiefs that perhaps the team will put into action.

Here’s a look back at the alchemy that got us to this era and what the couple has been up to this summer:

July 2023

Kelce is very familiar with Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium since that’s where his team, the Kansas City Chiefs, play. But on July 8, 2023, he was there for a different reason – to see Swift perform as part of her “Eras Tour.”

A few weeks later he shared the story on his podcast “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce,” which he co-hosts with his brother, about how he had attempted to get Swift his phone number via a Swiftie-style friendship bracelet.

“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,” he told the world after his brother Jason asked about attending the concert. “So I was a little butthurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”

“If you’re up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets, and I received a bunch of them being there, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it,” Kelce said.

When Jason asked if his brother meant his jersey number or his phone number, the Kansas City tight end quipped, “You know which one.”

September 2023

From there, Kelce found himself fielding questions about what, if anything, was going on between him and Swift.

“I’m not gonna talk about my personal life,” he said during an interview with NFL+ host Andrew Siciliano.

That didn’t stop the speculation that the pair were dating, and Kelce shared during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he had invited Swift to watch him play.

“I threw the ball in her court,” the football player said. “I told her, ‘I’ve seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead.’ We’ll see what happens in the near future.”

Swift eventually took him up on it and appeared at his game on September 24, sitting next to his mother, Donna Kelce, in the family suite.

Swifties, as her hardcore fan base is known, promptly lost it, heralding the kickoff of mania over the pair.

October 2023

The NFL began leaning in to “Traylor,” “Tayvis,” “Swelce” or whatever you choose to use as their couple nickname.

The league’s official X account posted about her plenty when on October 1 Swift and some of her famous friends including Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds cheered Kelce and his team on against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

Everyone felt swept up in the excitement over the two, and Donna Kelce told CNN that all the attention surrounding her son and Swift felt “unreal.”

“I tell everyone that it’s kind of like an alternate universe that I just happened to be in,” Donna Kelce said. “Like, I went through a third wall into another dimension. That’s what it feels like.”

And in a case of “we can show you better than we can tell you,” Kelce and Swift appeared to confirm their coupledom when they were photographed holding hands in New York City after they both made separate surprise appearances on “Saturday Night Live’s” season 49 premiere on October 14.

Swift gave definite girlfriend vibes a week later when she and Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, showed off their special handshake during a successful Chiefs play against the Los Angeles Chargers. Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes are besties as well as teammates.

November 2023

There was no doubt that Swift and Kelce were indeed a couple once he traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for her November 11 “Eras Tour” stop.

Not only was Kelce there with Swift’s dad, she swapped the “Karma” lyric “Karma is the guy in the screen coming straight home to me” – which many thought was about her ex-boyfriend actor Joe Alwyn – for “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me.”

And if that wasn’t swoon-worthy enough, video of her running off stage into Kelce’s arms for a smooch had those rooting for the superstar singer to find her person singing “It’s a love story, baby, just say ‘Yes.’”

Later that month Kelce was the cover star of WSJ Magazine’s and opened up about their relationship.

“Obviously I’ve never dated anyone with that kind of aura about them…. I’ve never dealt with it,” Kelce told the publication of Swift’s life in the spotlight. “But at the same time, I’m not running away from any of it…. The scrutiny she gets, how much she has a magnifying glass on her, every single day, paparazzi outside her house, outside every restaurant she goes to, after every flight she gets off, and she’s just living, enjoying life. When she acts like that I better not be the one acting all strange.”

December 2023

Kelce wasn’t the only one willing to talk about their relationship.

Swift was named Time magazine’s 2023 “Person of the Year” and in an interview with the publication, she cleared up speculation that they became official at that first September football game she attended.

“By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple,” she told Time.

She added, they “would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date” in the public sphere like that. Makes sense.

January 2024

Not only did Kelce and Swift ring in the new year together with a sweet kiss, but she also met his brother Jason for the first time.

The then-Philadelphia Eagles center and his wife Kylie Kelce hung out with Swift during the Chiefs’ playoff game against the Buffalo Bills,

Suffice it to say, Jason Kelce made quite the impression as he stripped off his shirt, guzzled beer and hopped out of the suite window to have some fun with the fans.

Afterwards the brothers talked about it during an episode of their podcast and Jason Kelce said his wife had warned him to be on his “best behavior” for his first meet up with his beloved brother’s girlfriend.

“I was like, ‘Kylie, the first day I met you I was blackout drunk and fell asleep at the bar,” he said during the podcast. “This is part of the charm. This is part of the Jason Kelce charm. I wanna make my best first impression.’”

It apparently worked as Travis Kelce told him, “Tay said she absolutely loved you.”

February 2024

Love was in the air the month of Valentine’s Day – not just between Swift and her boyfriend, but for his sports fans.

His team made it once again to the Super Bowl, which allowed the NFL to further cash in given that Swift had been boosting ratings with her attendance at the games.

And while some thought the league was overdoing it with all the shots of the singer during the games, Mama Kelce was excited for the new audience Swift was attracting.

“I think it’s amazing that more and more people are embracing the NFL. I love sports. I especially love football because my boys have been doing it for so long,” Donna Kelce told CNN at the time. “I truly believe that it’s bringing families closer. Sports tends to do that.”

“I’ve gotten letters, texts and comments when I’m in the airport about how fathers are so happy that their daughters are finally coming to them to try to understand the game,” she added. “And they couldn’t have thought that would have ever happened before now.”

Her son Travis and his Chiefs went on to win the Super Bowl, their third in five years and their second in a row.

And because we must know how did it end, Swift and Kelce gave us that movie moment when he turned from celebrating with his mother, told Swift “Come here girl,” and the pair embraced and exchanged a few kisses on the field.

There was much partying and Swift even joked in a TikTok video about ending up in a nightclub with her parents as they celebrated the historic win.

Later that month Kelce thrilled concertgoers in Australia when he flew out to join her when she played her Sydney tour stop.

April 2024

Good luck remembering who played Coachella because all eyes were on Swift and her man as they enjoyed the annual music festival. It was so serious that a video of a lip reader trying to interpret what the couple said to each other while they jammed went viral.

But that was nothing compared to the excitement when Swift dropped her new album “The Tortured Poets Department” on April 19.

Immediately, Swifties were trying to decode which songs/lyrics might be about Kelce.

The singer scored with all the sports references in her track “The Alchemy,” which led many to believe that the song about having an intense attraction to a new lover was inspired by Kelce.

“So when I touch down/Call the amateurs and/Cut ‘em from the team/Ditch the clowns, get the crown/Baby I’m the one to beat,” Swift sings. “Cause the sign on your heart/Said it’s still reserved for me/Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?”

May 2024

Kelce proved to be Swift’s number one fan and revealed his favorite Swift ‘era.’

“I’m a big ‘1989’ fan,” Kelce told “Access Hollywood” during his second annual Kelce Jam music festival. “But I’m not going to lie, I may be a little biased towards ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’ Just a little bit.”

The pair also enjoyed a romantic vacation in Lake Como, Italy, while Swift was on break from the European leg of her Eras Tour.

June 2024

Speaking of Europe, Swift posted a selfie of her, Kelce, Prince William and his two oldest kids, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, from her London concert, which also counted as his first Instagram-official shot on her feed.

Kelce wasn’t just along for the ride, it turns out.

He made his debut at her Wembley Stadium concert in London where he donned a top hat and tails for a cameo on stage with Swift.

Swift posted about her performance at the stadium, writing, “And I’m still cracking up/swooning over @killatrav’s Eras Tour debut.”

July 2024

Kelce gave listeners of his podcast the behind the scenes of his surprise debut, sharing that “It was an absolute blast.”

“It was such a fun, playful part of the show and it was like the perfect time for me to go up there, just be a ham and have some fun, not only with [Swift]… but the crowd and really try and get everybody excited for the rest of the show,” he said. “It was awesome.”

His main focus? Not to fumble.

“The golden rule was ‘Do not drop Taylor. Get her to the couch safe,’” he said.

“Do not drop the baby” is what he thought, and as usual, Kelce won.

The football player attended her favorite songbird’s concerts in Amsterdam and Germany before heading back to the US for training camp with his Kansas City Chiefs.

Absence made the heart grow fonder as Kelce danced to “Shake It Off” at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship Tournament and dedicated his karaoke win to his girlfriend.

August 2024

Swift performed her last show along the European leg of her Eras Tour at London’s Wembley Stadium. Days later, she commented for the first time on the thwarted terror attack that led to the cancellation of three shows in Vienna earlier in the month.

In her statement, Swift expressed her gratitude to the authorities involved because even thought she felt guilt for the cancellations, “we were grieving concerts and not lives,” she wrote.

Kelce has not commented about the incident.

Swift and Kelce reunited later in the month to throw a star-studded bash at her Rhode Island mansion to celebrate her taking a break from her tour. Guests included other couples like Jason and Kylie Kelce, Patrick and Brittany Mahomes, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, and Bradley Cooper and Gigi Hadid.

Kelce also became a minority owner of a racehorse named, wait for it, Swift Delivery.

And Swift apparently is more involved in Kelce’s career than we knew.

“She’s really interested in football and she asks a lot of great questions,” Mahomes told NBC’s Chris Simms in a recent interview. “She started drawing up plays, we might have to put one in.”

This story was originally published in July 2024.

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CNN’s Alli Rosenbloom contributed to this report.