Before there was Travis and Taylor, there was Tony and Jessica. And also, there was Tony and Carrie.
While Travis Kelce’s romance with Taylor Swift may have taken the celebrity relationship to heights previously unseen in the NFL, he’s hardly the first star football player to date a fellow famous person. And although both relationships largely predated social media, Tony Romo was a part of at least two of them, dating country singer Carrie Underwood and pop star/actress Jessica Simpson during his time with the Dallas Cowboys.
So if ever there was anyone in the football world qualified to weigh in on Kelce’s relationship with Swift, it might be Romo, who will call the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl LVIII matchup against the San Francisco 49ers for CBS on Sunday. Asked by The Sporting Tribune’s Arash Markazi what it’s like to be an NFL player in a high profile relationship, Romo didn’t discuss his own experiences, but made it clear where he stands on the Kelce-Swift phenomenon.
“He’s just trying to date somebody that he likes. I mean, they’re getting close,” said Romo, who married his wife, Candice, in 2011. “I know this: the passion of this sport and seeing him go out and do what he loves and be great at it is a joyful thing. The same way that he’s going to watch her. And I think that in a perfect world, they wouldn’t have all of the media attention around it. But the truth is, they’re just too dominant at what they do, they’re both special people.
“I love their hearts. I think they’re both incredible human beings who are super genuine. Who treat people the same no matter what walk of life you’re in. You root for people like that, you really do. I think they’re two, really unique special people.”
Some have compared Travis Kelce dating Taylor Swift to Tony Romo dating dating Carrie Underwood and later Jessica Simpson so I asked Romo if he could describe what it’s like being in a high-profile relationship like that. pic.twitter.com/D3a9somPOT
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) February 6, 2024
Having called multiple Chiefs games that Swift attended this season, Romo has gotten a firsthand look at the dynamic that her presence attending a football game create. He even shared his own moment with the “Shake it Off” singer on the field in Baltimore following the Chiefs’ victory over the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game.
“Her talent and ability is rare,” Romo told Markazi.
Unsurprisingly, Swift’s anticipated presence at Sunday’s game has received plenty of attention, including from the “dads, Brads and Chads” who think the biggest music star on the planet should be ignored in the name of football. It appears that Romo, however, a part of Team Tayvis, along with the likes of Pat McAfee and Colin Cowherd.
