- NFL. Patrick and Brittany Mahomes take in tennis action on Centre Court at Wimbledon
- NFL. NFL legend picks the greatest quarterback ever, and it's not Tom Brady. Who is it?
Look, it's one thing to be a touchdown-catching, Super Bowl-winning machine. It's quite another to have your Instagram feed blow up like a Fourth of July fireworks display. Welcome to Travis Kelce's world, where the Taylor Swifteffect is as real as a Lombardi Trophy in Kansas City.
On the gridiron, the Kansas City Chiefs boast two of the best at their positions in Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Three Super Bowl wins later, these dynamic dynamos are in another showdown, but this one's on the digital battlefield.
Kelce and Mahomes are in a social media skirmish, and the man with the golden hands just hit a major milestone, thanks to the pop culture juggernaut that is Taylor Swift. A recent study by sports analytics firm Tips.gg shone a spotlight on Kelce's astronomical rise in followers in just the past week.
After gracing the stage at Taylor Swift's Eras tour concerts in London and Dublin-where Kelce was spotted dancing and carrying Swift with all the finesse he shows on a post route-his Instagram following swelled by 256,849. This avalanche of new fans catapulted his follower count to a staggering 6,792,084, nudging past Mahomes, who sits at 6,790,013.
How Taylor Swift catapulted Travis Kelce to celebrity status
According to an article posted by TotalProSports, none of this would be possible without Swift, who has seemingly introduced millions of her fans to the thrills of football. "It's no secret that Travis Kelce's popularity has skyrocketed globally over the last year," said Anton Malyutin, Founder and CEO of Tips.gg. "It's partly down to his crucial role in the Chiefs' back-to-back Super Bowl wins and his romance with popstar Taylor Swift."
And it's not just social media that's feeling the effect. After the Chiefs trounced the Chicago Bears in September 2023, with Swift cheering from the stands, searches for Kelce jerseys went through the roof, surging by 1,267%. For the first time ever, Kelce jerseys outsold those of Mahomes.
Fox Sports reported at the time that Kelce's jersey sales spiked nearly 400% after Swift's appearance. "Yesterday, Travis Kelce was one of the top 5 selling NFL players and saw a nearly 400% spike in sales throughout the Fanatics network of sites, including NFLShop.com," noted Fanatics.
Sure, Kelce was already one of the NFL's elite, but he was languishing outside the top 10 in jersey sales before Swift's influence. Now, he's not just a star on the field but a bonafide social media and retail juggernaut.
So, what's next for Kelce? A platinum album? A spot on Dancing with the Stars? One thing's for sure: With Taylor Swift in his corner, the sky's the limit. And somewhere in Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes is probably refreshing his Instagram feed, wondering how he got out-followed by a guy who dances better in shoulder pads than most do in a tux.