Date a global superstar, spark a media feeding frenzy, as Travis Kelce learned firsthand Monday. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Being a Hall of Fame-bound tight end — even at the epicenter of the biggest game in American sports — is no match for being the boyfriend of one of the most famous women on the planet, a lesson Travis Kelce has embraced during Super Bowl week in Las Vegas.
“Buckle up, baby,” he said Tuesday of being the center of attention on Super Bowl week, just as he has been all season long thanks to his relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift. It’s a theme that he welcomed as he sat down before an enormous crowd of reporters Monday night, opening his remarks with characteristic nonchalance. “What a time to be alive. I’m living the dream.”
That was just the start. Here’s a look at some of the other things he has said about the most popular topic of Super Bowl LVIII.
On whether he has been distracted by the Taylor topic: “I think I’ve juggled the perception of my focus. I never want to make the people on this team and in the Kansas City Chiefs’ building feel that I wasn’t focused on the task at hand, and that’s winning football games.
“Knowing how much I love this game and I love coming into work and everything. Being able to juggle that and make sure everybody knows my focus is in the right area, especially when I’m in the building and there’s no distractions — that’s been the biggest thing.”
On what he has learned since dating Swift: “Worldwide fame is a lot different than just being famous in Kansas City.”
On becoming a distraction, something NFL coaches and players dread like the plague: “It’s only given me energy. I’m very fortunate to be in the position I am in life and have amazing things going for me. I’d be silly to find any negativity in what’s going on.”
On whether so many questions about his personal life are “fair”: I think it’s fair. I mean everybody’s having fun with it. It’s not like you guys [the media] are up here teeing off on me left and right. Everybody’s having a good time with it, so how could I be upset about it?”
On whether an engagement to Swift may be in the offing: “I’m focused on getting this [Super Bowl champions’] ring. That’s all my mind is focused on right now.”
On Swift making it to Las Vegas for the game after her Eras Tour concert in Tokyo, and post-Super Bowl plans: “She is absolutely the number one fan right now. I love having her at every single game that she can make and we’ll see. I don’t plan anything after the Super Bowl. My focus is on trying to win this game. Everything afterward will just fall in place. They tend to roll out the red carpet for you if you win this thing, so I don’t think you have to plan this party.”
On Swift’s impact on the NFL: “She’s definitely brought a lot of new faces to the game and it’s been fun to experience that. She seems to be enjoying the games. She’s a part of Chiefs Kingdom right now. It’s fun seeing her enjoy the game of football knowing it’s kind of new to her life.”
On Swift’s Grammys haul: “She’s unbelievable. She’s rewriting the history books herself, and I told her I’d have to hold up my end of the bargain and come home with some hardware, too.”
On Swift’s career after winning multiple Grammys and listening to some of her new album (“The Tortured Poets Department”): “[It’s] unbelievable. I can’t wait for her to shake up the world when it finally drops. I can’t give you anything [mimicking zipped lips] — I leave that up to her.”
On Swift’s whereabouts and whether she can indeed get to Vegas for kickoff: “She’s focused on entertaining the crowd in — I think it’s Singapore? — right now. I think that’s in a few weeks. I know she’s out in Japan — Tokyo maybe. She’s just working on entertaining them, making sure she’s ready for her performances and everything. The Super Bowl — we’ll worry about if she can make it.”
If she does make it to Allegiant Stadium, she might not be sitting with Kelce’s mother, Donna, who was a suitemate at a number of Chiefs games. “You can understand that the boxes in Vegas are multimillion dollars,” Donna Kelce told “Today” Wednesday. “So I have a feeling I’m not in a box, I have a feeling I’m in the stands. As far as I know I’m in the stands with everybody else because it is a pricey Super Bowl.”
On why he and Swift have been so interesting to people: “I think the values that we stand for and just who we are as people. We love to shine light on others, shine light on the people that help and support us,” he said Thursday in his final media availability of the week. “On top of that, I feel like we both just have a love for life.”
