Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s love story is what movies are made of.
In a promotional ad that aired on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown on December 24, Hallmark screenwriter Julie Sherman Wolfe gave a holiday-themed recap of the 2023 NFL season. In the clip, she explained how football this year has felt akin to a Christmas movie she’d pen for her network.
“First of all, you have your leading men, wise givers of advice, quirky best friends,” she said as the highs and lows of various teams in 2023 flashed across the screen. “And most importantly, an incredible story. Maybe someone’s in a new town, or starting a new job. And we see the meet-cutes, that spark. You think, ‘This is it. This is what we’ve been waiting for.’ And then, something happens that changes everything.”
Wolfe, who has written 24 movies for Hallmark, explained that like her films, the NFL has been “full of twists and turns” and “moments of pure joy.” As she added that there has also been “unexpected romance” for some players, the screen flashed to a moment of Kelce, 34, on the field, as Swift, 33, cheered for him wildly in the stands.
“Yes, someone’s heart might get broken, and not everyone gets the big kiss at the end, but the one thing that remains, especially at Christmas, is love,” she continued. “And eventually, everyone will have their storybook ending. It is Hallmark, after all.”
Swift and Kelce’s relationship has been the Hallmark-esque love story of the NFL over the past few months. The pair were first linked in September when Swift took the Kansas City Chiefs tight end up on his invite to watch him rock the field at Arrowhead Stadium. She has since been spotted cheering Kelce on at various Chiefs games all over the country, often alongside her fellow A-list pals and family members.
The NFL has leaned into her appearances at every given opportunity, often cutting to the pop star while games are airing live on TV. When addressing her relationship with Kelce in her TIME Person of the Year cover story earlier this month, Swift clarified that she’s never really aware of how many times she’s shown on screen at Kelce’s games — and she isn’t concerned if people take issue with her attendance.
“I don’t know how they know what suite I’m in. … I’m just there to support Travis,” she explained. “I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads and Chads.”
The Grammy-winner added that she and Kelce — who showed up to one of Swift’s Eras Tour concerts in Buenos Airest in November — are simply trying to be supportive of each other’s respective careers.
“When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” she said. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”
Kelce, for his part, has been candid about his relationship with Swift, often gushing over his admiration for the singer. When appeared in the stands for his December 17 game against the New England Patriots, the athlete was floored by the crowd’s response to her presence.
“I’ll say this, they showed Taylor at the game and you don’t see an entire home team fanbase go insane for somebody wearing the opposite team’s colors. Just shows you how amazing that girl is,” he shared during a December episode of his “New Heights” podcast. “They went absolutely insane when they showed Taylor on the screen. … Might have been a few Brads and Chads that were booing, but for the most part, everybody was f—king screaming at Taylor. I was trying to keep it cool, I was like, ‘Don’t show your cards.’”
While neither minds their love being in the spotlight, Swift told TIME that the couple actually first began dating in the summer, and she’s glad they were able to spend a few months privately dating before the public caught on to their romance in September.
“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,” she said. “By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”
