Winchester says Kelce had the sweetest reaction to Swift showing up for him in September.
Travis Kelce’s friend and teammate James Winchester says the Kansas City Chiefs tight end was blushing during the first game that Taylor Swift attended.
In a new episode of the Like a Farmer podcast, the 34-year-old long snapper shared how he informed Kelce, 34, of Swift's arrival during a September game at Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri.
"My first response was, 'That's pretty cool,' so I walked up to Trav in the game and we were on the sideline and I just said, 'Hey man, that’s cool she's here,'" Winchester said. "He's like, 'Wait, what do you mean? Did they put her up on the Jumbotron or something?'"
Puzzled by how he knew, Winchester shared that it was the team's assistant equipment manager, Jay White, who first told him that the "Bad Blood" singer, 34, was in the house.
"[I told Travis], 'Jay [White] just told me right there. That's awesome, man, good for you,'" Winchester explained. "He’s just kind of smiling, like, kind of blushing."
Kelce -- who fans will remember first invited Swift to come watch him play at Arrowhead Stadium after he attended her sold-out Eras Tour show on the same field -- ultimately scored a touchdown during the game against the Chicago Bears, which the Chiefs decisively won 41-10.
During an interview on The Pat McAfee Show earlier that month, the NFL pro said, "I threw the ball in her court. I told her, 'I've seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead. You might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead and see which one's a little more lit,' so we'll see."
After clinching the first of many victories with Swift in attendance -- her lucky 13th game of the season was the Super Bowl, which the team won -- Kelce and his now-girlfriend were spotted leaving the venue in his convertible and hit up the team after-party, where Winchester says Swift was as down to earth as possible.
"Later on, we're walking up the ramp and him and her go get in the cart, so we're walking by and made some jokes to him on the way,” Winchester recalled in the podcast episode. "Later that night, [we] got to meet her and the first thing she said [was], 'Hey, you're the guys with the cute kids, because we had my son and daughter out on the field. I’m like, 'Dang, I think I just became a T. Swift fan."
From that moment on, Swift became a staple at Chiefs games -- when she wasn't on her record-breaking Eras Tour, of course -- cheering Kelce, Winchester and their other teammates win after win.
When the time came for the Missouri NFL team to head to Las Vegas for the final showdown of the season versus the San Francisco 49ers, there was even a sizable amount of concern over whether Swift would be able to make it back from Japan in time to watch her affectionately nicknamed "guy on the Chiefs" win. Luckily, she made it back in time and brought along friends, including Blake Lively and Ice Spice, who watched the big game in a box alongside Kelce's parents and brother, Jason Kelce.
Since then, the pair have been soaking up their free time between Swift's hiatus from tour and Kelce's lightened load during the off-season by hitting up Los Angeles restaurants like Sushi Park and Nobu, taking a beach vacation in the Caribbean and supporting each other's respective career moves.
For the 14-time GRAMMY Award winner, that means the release of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department. Kelce has also kept busy, recently signing a contract extension with the Chiefs, agreeing to host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? for Prime Video and even picking up a guest role on Ryan Murphy and Niecy Nash-Betts' new FX horror series, Grotesquerie.
In April, a source told ET, "He knows how much this means to her and thinks she's extremely talented."
The source added, "Taylor and Travis admire each other's creative processes and work ethic. They cheer each other on, respect each other's opinions, and are open and communicative."
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