The Swift and Kelce era shows the power of sports and entertainment colliding: Telander

CHICAGO - I don’t know, folks, is this what we signed up for as sportswriters? Okay, I’m speaking about me, your, ahem—"veteran"--sports scribe who’s accustomed to writing about games and scores and such.

But when Travis Kelce proposed to Taylor Swift—Marry me, my darling songwriter/cultural phenom/billionaire-- the universe tilted. And the sports world tilted along with it. Kelce, 35, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and guaranteed Hall of Famer, and Swift, also 35, the biggest thing in music since Madonna, Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Elvis (pick one), are tying the knot, and it’s impossible not to see the cultural and monetary effect of this.

Kelce works in a violent, short-lived and cruel business wherein men are rewarded for athleticism, strength and brutality. Swift performs in a business that is wildly competitive but one she has been able to conquer with poetry, art, performance and music. How these two people found each other (Well, I guess that wasn’t too hard!) and are able to relate to one another and be pleased with one another and want to spend the rest of their lives together is an event as weird, fascinating and--yes—fairy-tale beautiful as Tinker Bell saying "I do" to Paul Bunyan.

Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates with Taylor Swift after a 17-10 victory against the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game at M&T Bank Stadium on January 28, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty

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This all presupposes Kelce and Swift are truly in love. It could be ye olde infatuation ala most Hollywood romances. But then, neither of these people is a Hollywood star. Not yet, that is. Swift does not specialize in movies (except her recent Eras Tour documentary), hardly ever does interviews (except on lover Travis’s and brother Jason’s podcast). And until recently Travis’s fame was all on the football field, where he’s a seven-time All-Pro and three-time Super Bowl champion. Now he’s hosted ``Saturday Night Live’’ and acted in ``Happy Gilmore 2.’’ (He’s not bad, I have to admit—looks like late-1920s Earnest Hemingway.)

So it’s possible this romance is absolutely pure. Or the impending marriage could be a naïve melodrama and subliminal career-builder for two people who have no idea what they’ve embarked upon. There have been other famous athlete-entertainment star couplings in history, of course. Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson, Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen come to mind. Those all ended in divorce.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have dinner at Waverly Inn on October 15, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/GC Images/Getty Images)

But let’s suppose this one’s for real. Let’s for now go with the sweetness of it all. Let’s lay aside cynicism and assume this is what pure superstar role-modeling can bring. It’s helpful to do that because the NFL is filled with nasty anti-tales of gold-digging women and domestic assault-driven men, vices which seem impossible in this romance.

Kelce is a rascal and a fun-lover, but he’s also apparently a gentleman who treats females with consideration, as equals, with respect. And Swift—well, she sure doesn’t need any of Kelce’s money. Her recently-concluded Eras Tour brought in over $2 billion, making it the highest-grossing concert in history.

Indeed, the NFL actually needs Swift more than she needs it. More than it needs Kelce. According to MarketWatch, a Dow Jones affiliate, in the two football seasons of the pair’s romance, Swift’s presence (how many camera shots of her cheering, ruby-red-lipsticked face during Chiefs games have we seen?) has brought in over $1 billion of publicity and revenue to the league. She’s an economic powerhouse whatever she does. The melding of the most popular sports league and the biggest current pop star has got to be Roger Goodell’s greatest daydream.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 23: Taylor Swift is joined on stage by Travis Kelce (R), during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at Wembley Stadium on June 23, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management ) (Getty Images )

One thing we know--and you better believe it’s flashed through Kelce’s mind: Swift writes her songs about her ex-boyfriends, and not always in flattering terms. She has responded, "If guys don’t want me to write bad songs about them…. then they shouldn’t do bad things."

So she’s a watchdog on dudes’ behaviors. "She makes me so much better," Kelce has said on his podcast. He has called her "the smartest woman in the world."

I remember when NFL player Ray Rice coldcocked his girlfriend and dragged her by the hair. I remember when former Seahawks player Chad Wheeler almost killed his girlfriend in a beating. I remember the whole Deshaun Watson massage therapist mess. Let’s hope this Swift-Kelce thing is what it momentarily appears to be—a bright shining star.

Let’s hope that when his football career is over (after this season, he’s said) and they actually share household duties as married mates and—maybe, maybe—there are diapers and pets and little feet in the future, that the magic doesn’t vanish for the pair like pixie dust in the haze of real life.

Whatever does happen, one thing’s for sure. We’ll hear about it on Spotify and Apple Music and Amazon Music and Disney+ and ringing from the halls of arenas soon enough.

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