NFL player Travis Kelce laughed off statistics about his performance as a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs following his fiancee, Taylor Swift's album release.
Newsweek reached out to Kelce's representative via email for comment on Wednesday.
Why It Matters
Kelce’s relationship with Swift has transcended pop culture, catalyzing a rise in NFL viewership. Since the couple began dating in 2023, analysts, broadcasters and fans have observed a statistical uptick in Kelce's production during games Swift attends. The phenomenon, dubbed the “Taylor Swift Effect,” illustrates the intersection of sports and celebrity culture, while drawing new fandom into the NFL, especially among Swift’s dedicated audience.
What To Know
On Wednesday's new episode of Kelce's New Heights podcast, the 36-year-old addressed his most recent stats after Swift dropped her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
"'Wood' stats from Chase Snyder on Twitter," Kelce's brother and co-host Jason Kelce began, teeing up the news with a reference to one of Swift's new songs. "Travis Kelce before the release of 'Wood:' Four games, 15 catches, 188 yards and a touchdown. Travis Kelce after release of 'Wood:' two games, 139 yards and one touchdown."
Travis laughed and said, "That's hilarious."
"I don't know why that's significant, but it's funny," Jason, who previously played for the Philadelphia Eagles, added.
"Wood" is the ninth track on Swift's 12th studio album, which was released on October 3. The song, which is rumored to be about Travis Kelce, features sexually explicit content and double entendres, including the lyrics: "The curse on me was broken by your magic wand" and "Redwood tree, it ain't hard to see. His love was the key that opened my thighs."
What People Are Saying
Travis Kelce previously weighed in on whether he performs better with Swift at his games: "I think it's pretty much a coincidence. I've had some pretty big games in my career. So yeah, I think it's a bit of a coincidence for sure."
Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt spoke out about Swift's effect on the team on The Pat McAfee Show in August: "She's done an amazing job, unintentionally, of increasing our female fan base. We used to be about a 50/50 ratio of male to female fan base. Now, 57 percent of our fans are female, which I think is probably the highest in the National Football League. There has absolutely been a Taylor Swift effect."
Taylor Swift said during an appearance on The Morning Mash Up that her mom isn't aware that "Wood" is NSFW (not safe for work): "I think that she thinks that that song is about superstitions, popular superstitions, which it absolutely is...That's the joy of the double entendre. You could read that song for people, and it just goes right over their head. You see in that song what you wanna see in that song."
What Happens Next
The Chiefs go up against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
