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Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift have a strong dedicated fan base.
Fans continue to wait for Travis Kelce to announce whether he’s returning for a 14th season with the Kansas City Chiefs or retiring from the league.
Kelce promised to make his decision before free agency starts, which officially kicks off on March 11. The Chiefs, however, can start negotiating with pending free agents like Kelce on March 9.
After recording 76 catches for 851 yards and five touchdowns last season, Kelce, 36, the Chiefs “for sure want him back,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on March 2.
Should the 11-time Pro Bowler decide to play in 2026, that means another year of fans seeing his fiancée, Taylor Swift, cheering him on at Arrowhead Stadium — a big win for the Chiefs and the NFL.

GettyTaylor Swift celebrates with fans during the 2024 AFC Wild Card Playoffs.
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt told Pat McAfee in August, “It’s been a whirlwind, I would say, for the organization over the last two years since Taylor literally stepped into our lives. She’s done an amazing job, unintentionally, of increasing our female fanbase.
“We used to be about a 50-50 ratio, male-to-female fanbase, and now 57% of our fans are female, which I think is probably the highest in the National Football League. So there’s absolutely been a Taylor Swift effect.”
Swift’s dedicated fan base has fully embraced Kelce as their favorite NFL player and on March 2, “Swifties” received a major nod of recognition.
The Online Dictionary Officially Added ‘Swiftie’ to the Database
Dictionary.com added the term “Swiftie” to their lexicon with an official definition reading, “a fan of the music of Taylor Swift.”

GettyTaylor Swift fans, also known as “Swifties”, arrive at Wembley Stadium ahead of her performance on August 15, 2024 in London, England.
Based on the four-part criteria to qualify as a new word, “Swiftie” passes the test with flying colors: “It’s a word that’s used by a lot of people, it’s used by those people in largely the same way, it’s likely to stick around, and it’s useful for a general audience,” Dictionary.com states.
“To be added to the dictionary, a word must have a shared meaning (that is, it must communicate a widely agreed-upon meaning from one person to the next).” Lexicographers also want to include words with staying power, words that people will continue to use for a long time.

GettyTaylor Swift fans wear Travis Kelce’s jersey while attending the “Eras Tour” in London.
Swift, who jokingly referred to herself as an English teacher in the couple’s engagement announcement, is likely thrilled by the news.
Other fan bases with terms in the digital dictionary include Beyhive, fans of Beyoncé, and Trekkie, for fans of “Star Trek.” No word on if 92%ers, the nickname for fans of the Kelce brothers’ podcast, “New Heights,” is under consideration.
Taylor Swift Thanked Her Fans for Boosting ‘Opalite’ to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts
Swifties show up and show out for the 14-time Grammy winner. After helping make The “Eras Tour” the first tour in history to surpass $2 billion in ticket sales, they helped launch her latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” to sell a record-breaking 4.002 million units in its opening week.
The 36-year-old songwriter recently gave a shoutout to her fans while celebrating her latest single bouncing up to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
She wrote, “Just a few Opalite memories to celebrate the Hot 100 #1 you guys just got this song!! I can’t even sum up my excitement and I’m so blown away by the love you’ve shown this song and video. To put this into perspective… This is actually the first time I’ve had two Hot 100 #1s off of one album since my album 1989 came out in 2014, nearly twelve years ago!
“I know that’s a lot of numbers but it all adds up to me being so thankful to the fans who helped make this happen by welcoming this song into your lives with open arms. Seriously bouncing off the walls about this!! Just wanted to say THANK YOU, might go buy a giant pretzel at the mall to celebrate, iykyk 🥨🌵🪨.”
Shortly after the remix of “Opalite” dropped, the single earned the biggest pure sales week in the U.S. with 170,000 units. It’s the biggest week for a female artist since “Anti-Hero” in 2022.
Emily Bicks covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Bills, Seahawks and Chiefs. She’s contributed to Heavy since 2019 and has interviewed some of the biggest stars in sports, including Jerry Rice, Shaquille O’Neal and Stefon Diggs. More about Emily Bicks