The Kansas City Chiefs have been warned Travis Kelce dating Taylor Swift is “horrible” for their chances of NFL success.
The Chiefs are the reigning Super Bowl champions and have high hopes of lifting the Vince Lombardi Trophy again in February. They’ll lean on Kelce as their top receiving threat as quarterback Patrick Mahomes looks to lead them to victory again.
But the team now has a headline-grabbing new follower in the form of Swift, who has attended the last two games to watch rumored love interest Kelce. She watched the Chiefs comfortably beat the Chicago Bears at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 3 before edging past the New York Jets with an unconvincing performance in Week 4.
New York Giants legend Osi Umenyiora knows what it takes for a team to win it all having earned two Super Bowl rings in his career. And he has admitted that he believes the outside noise that will now follow Kelce due to his links to Swift will be “horrible” for the Chiefs.
READ MORE: Travis Kelce had rocky road to stardom after college controversy and ‘immature’ criticism
On The Jason and Osi Podcast, former Giants teammate and co-host Jason Bell said: “We’re talking about Taylor Swift, I love it, we’re talking about it, we’re enjoying it. This is cool, I’m all for it.
“Then you said, ‘man this is different, he doesn’t want all this’. I’m like ‘what do you mean’, and you’re like, ‘J-Bell, this is a lot’.
“But there’s something that NFL teams talk about every single year, and they try to manage it as best as possible, because it’s the thing that can tear them apart – outside noise.
“The outside noise of this – it’s great for the league, it’s great for their brands, is this good for the team?”
Taylor Swift has attended the last two Kansas City Chiefs games ( Image:
Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
Umenyiora replied: “Horrible for the team. For the league, it’s incredible. Get the Swifties, get a massive bump in ratings. People watching who never even cared about football before.
“We know the NFL, once you watch a good game, you’re done. But now, this is going to be a problem not only for the team but for them as a couple.”
Speaking on his own podcast with his brother, Jason, this week, Travis admitted he believes the NFL has gone overboard with their reaction to Swift attending the last two games. The league faced backlash for changing their social media bios to reference the pop megastar before an embarrassing U-turn, and it’s also been claimed they asked broadcasters to promote Swift’s upcoming movie on their coverage.
Kelce said on the ‘New Heights’ podcast: “I think it’s fun when they show who was at the game. I think it brings a little bit more to the atmosphere, brings a little bit more to what you’re watching. But at the same time I think…”
“They’re overdoing it,” Jason finished, to which Travis agreed: “They’re overdoing it a little bit for sure, especially my situation. [But] I think they’re just trying to have fun with it.”
Kelce and the Chiefs face the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 5 on Sunday. The Mayor of Minneapolis has already made a public plea for Swift to attend but it is unknown at this stage whether she will be in attendance.