On Wednesday, Time named Taylor Swift its “Person of the Year.”
But while the bulk of the pop superstar’s bonafides for the distinction — which is typically reserved for world leaders — comes in the form of her record-setting concert tour and general music career, she also has an obvious connection to the sports world.
In fact, Time‘s accompanying profile of Swift appears to offer the first on-record confirmation of what we’ve all known since September: that the “Shake it Off” singer is dating Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce. In the piece written by Sam Lansky, Swift reveals that her and Kelce started “hanging out” shortly after the All-Pro tight end called her out on his podcast in late-July.
“This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” Swift told Time. “We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple.”
Metal, indeed.
Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) is TIME's 2023 Person of the Year https://t.co/oyjR55azCZ pic.twitter.com/m2qbIbd5TX
— TIME (@TIME) December 6, 2023
While who Swift is dating is hardly the most notable thing about her, her relationship with Kelce has helped demonstrate her incredible popularity. As noted by Time, an October game between the Chiefs and New York Jets that she attended resulted in record ratings, and as any football fan could tell you, it wasn’t just because of the on-field product.
“Yes, she somehow made one of America’s most popular things—football—even more popular,” Lansky writes.
Based on the social media reaction — and the “Swifties” can sometimes skew this — Swift is a polarizing pick for the honor. But if nothing else, it has received more approval than Sports Illustrated‘s selection of Deion Sanders as its “Sportsperson of the Year,” an award one could argue that Kelce was more qualified for.
[Time]
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.