In one of the most highly anticipated sports and pop culture crossovers of the year, Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce hosted his girlfriend, pop megastar Taylor Swift, on a new episode of his podcast “New Heights,” with his brother, Jason.
With more than 1 million people on the podcast’s YouTube channel, the conversation veered between Swift’s discussion of her new album, her journey to becoming a football fan and a closer look inside her relationship with Kelce. It has been a big week for both Swift and Kelce: On Tuesday at 12:12 a.m. ET, Swift announced the upcoming release of her 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” Later that morning, GQ dropped its September cover, featuring Kelce, along with a long profile and a dozen highly stylized photos.
The Athletic counts dozens of Swifties among its staff. To make sense of the episode and increase your “sports x culture” social currency throughout the discourse following the episode’s release, Jayna Bardahl, Charlotte Carroll and Hannah Vanbiber provided these key takeaways:
Taylor knows ball
Finding out that Swift is the one who told Kelce the Chiefs drafted Xavier Worthy in the first round of the 2024 draft is exactly the football info I needed from this episode! That she became “obsessed” with the sport is even more exciting for all of the football-loving Swifties and those who embraced the sport as a result — we know there were quite a few fans who became Kansas City and NFL followers because of her.
It’s quite wild hearing her journey to finding the sport when I reported a piece on the crossover after she made her first appearance at a Chiefs game back in September 2023. This quote from Ian Trombetta, NFL SVP of social and influencer marketing, still feels so relevant: “We knew it was going to be a culture moment like we haven’t seen (in some time).” Two years later, that moment is still in progress. — Charlotte Carroll
Taylor Swift says she “became obsessed” with the NFL since she started dating Travis Kelce.
Exhibit A: pic.twitter.com/D84rRVxxvG
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 13, 2025
Swift’s football fandom (with an Easter egg?)
We got a good laugh out of Swift admitting her lack of football knowledge when she first met Travis. “I thought it was like Jared Goff is here and Josh Allen is here, and they blow a whistle and they go at each other,” Swift said.
But I also think we can take a lot from Travis’ reaction. He didn’t belittle her. He smiled with her and said he understood why she wouldn’t know the rules if she didn’t follow the sport before. That’s a great way to welcome new fans to sports, or any of our interests, for that matter.
And then of course, Swift had to flex the football IQ she’s gained since then:
“We’re talking about Cover 2, Cover 4, Cover 0, man coverage,” she said. “I’m not ready to be an analyst right now, but give me 16 months.” Was that an Easter egg? Swift is rarely random in her comments, especially with numbers. Mark December 2026 on the calendar, the month of her 37th birthday. — Jayna Bardahl
Taylor Swift’s ball knowledge 🏈📈 pic.twitter.com/eNSlRJwVak
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 14, 2025
Sports documentary? I feel kind of how I felt when I watched “The Last Dance”: A unique, new look behind the scenes of an all-time great
Taylor Swift has written about love for her entire career. This is the first time we’re seeing her actually in love in real time. It’s quite a moment for a lifelong Swiftie. But then, too, there’s something here for everyone, where they smartly frame their connection around their competitive natures.
“Who would be that stubborn?” Taylor asks about her re-recording project, to knowing laughter from both Kelces. “I knew she had that bad kid in her,” Travis says, with Jason correcting him: “Savvy kid.” — Hannah Vanbiber
Pop star = Athlete, competitor, elite performer
A lot of the pod was about the connective tissue between being a star athlete and being a pop star. You can almost hear them correcting the idea that being a pop star isn’t one of the most physically and mentally grueling jobs in the world: Being an elite athlete and an elite performer is hard; it takes grit, it takes perfectionism, it takes defiance and it takes a competitive drive.
Travis emphasized the dedication, intelligence and grit he sees in Taylor’s approach to her work — like any athlete who wants to be the GOAT in their sport. “I’ve seen how you make music,” he said. “The effort, the strategy behind even one album. And you’ve been doing this your whole life.”
“We compare physical therapy stories,” Taylor said, comparing the conditioning and physical demands of being on tour to Travis being in season with the NFL. When she insisted she was not an athlete, both Kelces immediately cut her off: “Don’t say that.”
“Field, stage, they’re the same thing, we just call them different things,” Swift said.
“In the Eras tour and seeing the power skip, I knew you were an athlete,” Travis said. “Not everybody can power-skip in heels.” I’d like to see an NFL player perform for three hours in heels. And then do it again the following night. — Vanbiber
Taylor’s impact on NFL viewers
Jason asked about the effect of Swift at games on helping more kids, especially daughters, watch football with their parents. Travis called it a pleasant surprise, while Swift admitted it never a thought in either of their heads that it would be a byproduct.
“A lot of the women and girls, maybe they watched one game to see me cheer on my boyfriend or whatever,” Taylor said. “But if they stayed, which is what people are saying based on the numbers, that’s because the game is so great and it’s such an amazing, interesting thing to learn about.”
Swift was right on the numbers. Over the 2023 season, not only did the average number of viewers tuning into Chiefs regular-season prime-time games increase from the previous two (a 39.4 percent jump compared to last year alone), but so did the percentage of female viewers (up 3 percent), according to Nielsen. — Carroll
Super Bowl halftime show mentioned
Swift talked about her introduction to sports, which was mostly hearing her dad yell about the Eagles (she’s from Pennsylvania) while she was upstairs writing music and learning guitar. She said she would go to sporting events as a kid to sing the national anthem. And that she watched every Super Bowl halftime, but not the game. Swift sang the national anthem on Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field when the Detroit Lions played the Miami Dolphins in 2006 (when now-Lions coach Dan Campbell was a player). I’d love to see her check a Super Bowl halftime show off the bucket list. — Bardahl
Travis Kelce: A man of the people
Travis was playing video games when Taylor walked in to tell him she’d bought back her master recordings. He put his headset down and said, “Guys, I gotta go.” I love how the brothers so deeply understood her quest to get back her masters; from one competitor to another: “It’s how your legacy is shaped.” They love seeing her win. She got that dog in her. — Vanbiber
“Swiftie Semiotics” 🤝 sports analytics
The only thing in the world that compares to the intensity of Swiftie Easter-egg hunting, numerology, signs and symbols? (I call it “Swiftie Semiotics.”) People in their fantasy football league. — Vanbiber
Travis — who has played in stadiums around the world — says it was nothing like being on stage during the Eras Tour
Taylor brought him out on stage at Wembley Stadium in London. He said he felt as small as an ant and basically blacked out. “Don’t drop her, just don’t drop her,” he said. — Vanbiber
Taylor watched Jason meet the Royal Family
Oh, to be a fly on that wall! She says she just looked on as he tried to decide whether or not to put a beer down; the beer is more authentic, but could be disrespectful?? — Vanbiber
One benefit of Swift being on-screen during NFL games?
Travis finally got to see his family in the suite! — Vanbiber
Both emphasize family
It hits me yet again that Taylor, like me, is a Millennial, entering into the stage of life when it becomes necessary to care for parents. Even the most famous woman in the world gets those scary calls in the middle of the night. I loved when she said her dad, after surviving a huge heart surgery, joked: “I come from a competitive family.” — Vanbiber
Jason’s moment in the spotlight
It’s a crazy world when Jason Kelce is the least famous person on a sports podcast. Call it the Swift effect. But here we are with the Super Bowl winner and seven-time Pro Bowler running the interview between Taylor and Travis with aplomb.
The brothers have navigated plenty of famous faces throughout their three-year podcast run, but this was an especially fun episode to watch as Jason both runs the questions and shares personal details. Just a masterclass of keeping it moving and fun. Great podcasting. — Carroll
Jason Kelce, family first
Pretty obsessed with the fact that this is a remote episode. Like, Jason has a family, and even making it to be in the same room for this huge episode is not more important than whatever he’s got going on at home. Aspirational. — Vanbiber
Swift is an endurance athlete
She recorded the new album DURING the Eras Tour?! She would have three shows in a row and then have three days off, fly to Sweden and record. What can we even compare this to in the sports world? Ultra-marathoners? Ultra tri-athletes? — Vanbiber
How to cut out the noise
Taylor talks about what it’s like to sometimes be the most-talked-about person on the internet, and how she has learned not to let a comment ruin her day. (She just isn’t online much!)
“Whether your algorithm is giving you criticism or adulation or praise, you’re creating a world where you’re the centerpiece of the table, and I just don’t think that’s healthy,” she said. — Vanbiber
A peek behind the curtain
One of the many interesting parts of this podcast has been the peek into Swift’s creative process. As a journalist, you always wonder the why and how. And as a creative, hearing about how artists value their work and how they approach a new project — whether it’s a story, album or anything else — is always so insightful.
Even something simple at its face value — the new album cover image, for example — has such forethought and reasoning behind the choice. Swift has been that way her entire career, so it’s not a surprise, but it’s just really fun to learn about. Hearing Travis and Jason equally interested is just an added bonus. — Carroll
“Are you bready for it?”
Swift revealed in her free time from the Eras Tour — somehow in the middle of releasing her 12th album in the same 24 hours that we all have — that she’s gotten into sourdough. She’s just like us, wonderful bread puns included. Except she’s sending her loaves to Travis at training camp. Swift is even workshopping Funfetti sourdough for Jason’s daughters, who love the rainbow colors.
As Swift said herself, “It’s a loaf story, baby just say yeast.” — Carroll
(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
