On Sunday night, Taylor Swift made a routine appearance at her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s football game. All the hallmark components of Swift’s player’s-box visits were there: inventive Kansas City Chiefs merch, high fives with all the Kelces, one random squad member (this week it was Cara Delevingne). Actually, it was a particularly raucous night in the box — Travis’s brother, Jason, who famously also plays football but was eliminated from the playoffs last week, ripped his shirt off and leapt into the bleachers while cheering on his brother’s team to Swift’s shock and maybe horror. But people keep telling me the real action happens on the field, and on Sunday, it did: After scoring his first touchdown of the night, Kelce blew a kiss in Swift’s direction before molding his red-gloved hands into a heart.
@chiefs TOUCHDOWN KILLA TRAV! 😘😘😘 #traviskelce #chiefskingdom #nflplayoffs
♬ Nonstop (Guitar Version + Slowed) - visioner.
@moquiobelo Travis Kelce blows a kiss to Taylor Swift #TaylorSwift #traviskelce #swifties #personadelaño #time #swifties #chief #taylorswifttraviskelce #traviskelcetaylorswift #kansascity #kansascitychiefs #foryoupage #1989taylorsversion #haters #foryou #swiftie #erastour #foryou #1989 #mexicocitytstheerastour #taylorswift #erastour #mexico #fypシ #videoviral #swifties #fearless #swiftinnati #taygathecat #ilovebeingawoman #xyzbca #grwm #navidad #navidadentiktok @Taylor Swift @Travis Kelce @Taylor Nation @Chiefs @TikTok
♬ original sound - 🩷Caitlyn🩷
Obviously, this is huge for Swifties and definitely way more important than the fact that Kelce’s team won the game. Swift has been making heart hands since at least 2011, when she told the New York Times it means “something between ‘I love you’ and ‘thank you.’” (Some TikTokers have referred to them as “the ‘Fearless’ heart hands,” probably because she frequently made them while singing “Fearless” on her Eras tour.)
This isn’t the first time Kelce has channeled such a key piece of Swiftian spiritual geometry — he made a similar gesture during an October game at which Swift was also watching, and he also made it for Eras audience members in Argentina. He did heart hands twice Sunday night — first to celebrate the touchdown, and later toward a crowd of booing fans who supported the opposing home team, the Buffalo Bills.
A few days later, Kelce offered some thoughtful reflections on his heart-hands moment during the weekly podcast he hosts with his brother: “Had to spread the love, baby.” He added that the stadium, which was the Buffalo Bills’ home turf, had “a lot of hate,” to the point where things got “a little disrespectful” and also “pretty wack.” Of the heart hands specifically, he said, “I just wanted to make sure they knew it wasn’t mutual. I don’t hate you guys like you hate us.”
Whatever Travis and his little football gloves were trying to say, his continued use of his girlfriend’s visual fan language — and also the fact that he blew her a kiss — has sent Swifties across TikTok into a fan-cam-fueled frenzy.
@abby.jordansversion they are the best thing ive ever seen #taylorswift #1989taylorsversion #taylorsversion #swifttok #theerastour #reputationtaylorsversion #taylurking #swiftie #cheifs #traviskelce
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Elsewhere in the vast universe of Swift’s fandom, people are hard at work figuring out where Swift’s newest cheerleader ensemble came from. A popular fan account determined that the jacket she wore, which appeared to be coordinated with the Chiefs’ away-game jerseys, was not team merch at all but just a regular $1,800 letter jacket created by a brand called Gant in collaboration with artist Kilo Kish.
Much speculation has been set off by the four letters on the side — “CTFL” — because as you know, randomness does not exist in the field of Swiftian logic. Fans have theorized that it just stands for Connecticut and Florida, states that are meaningful to the jacket’s creators. Or maybe it also means “I love you” and “Thank you”?
This post has been updated.