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Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift appear to have started dating in summer 2023, after Kelce’s July podcast remarks about trying to meet Swift at her Kansas City Eras Tour concert. Their first date was in New York, while the September 24, 2023, Chiefs game was their first major public appearance—not the beginning of the romance.
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift appear to have started dating in summer 2023, shortly after Kelce talked publicly about trying—and failing—to meet Swift at her Eras Tour concert in Kansas City. The best-supported account places the beginning of their relationship before September 24, 2023, when Swift attended her first Kansas City Chiefs game. That appearance was the couple’s first major public reveal—not their first date.
How Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift first connected
Swift performed at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium in July 2023. Kelce attended the concert and later said he tried to give her a friendship bracelet containing his phone number. He was unable to meet her.
Kelce then discussed the failed introduction and his interest in meeting Swift on the New Heights podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother, Jason Kelce. In her December 2023 TIME interview, Swift said those podcast comments put Kelce on her radar. She said they began spending time together “right after that.”
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That makes the podcast conversation the clearest public starting point for the relationship’s origin story: Kelce’s attempted bracelet introduction led to his podcast remarks, and those remarks caught Swift’s attention.
When did they actually start dating?
The most accurate answer is summer 2023. An exact day has not been established by the couple’s primary accounts cited in the available reporting.
Kelce later said that he and Swift had known each other for approximately one month before her September 24 Chiefs game appearance. Counting backward from that game suggests that they may have started seeing each other around August 2023, but that is an inference—not a confirmed first-date date.
| Date or period | What happened | How certain is it? |
|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | Swift performed at Arrowhead Stadium. Kelce said he tried to give her a friendship bracelet with his phone number. | Directly described by Kelce in the reported Wall Street Journal interview account. |
| Late July 2023 | Kelce talked about the failed meeting on New Heights. | Swift later identified these comments as what caught her attention. |
| Summer 2023 | Swift said she and Kelce began hanging out soon afterward. | Directly stated by Swift; no exact day given. |
| Approximately August 2023 | The pair may have begun dating around this time, based on Kelce’s “about a month” comment. | Reasonable timing inference, not a confirmed date. |
| Before September 24, 2023 | Kelce said they had already been talking and that their first date took place in New York. | Directly attributed to Kelce; the date of that New York outing remains unknown. |
| September 24, 2023 | Swift watched the Chiefs play the Chicago Bears at Arrowhead Stadium. | The first major public appearance of the relationship, not its beginning. |
Where was their first date?
Kelce said their first date took place in New York. That means the September 24 Chiefs game was not their first date, despite becoming the moment when the relationship entered the public spotlight.
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The available accounts do not establish the exact day of the New York date. They also do not identify the person Kelce referred to as “somebody playing Cupid”—someone in Swift’s circle who apparently helped facilitate contact.
Why September 24, 2023, is often mistaken for the beginning
Swift’s appearance at the Chiefs’ game against the Chicago Bears generated the first unmistakable public images of the relationship. She watched from a suite alongside Kelce’s mother, Donna Kelce, and afterward joined Kelce publicly. Because it was the first widely seen event linking them, many early reports treated it as the start of the romance.
Swift later corrected that interpretation. In her TIME interview, she explained that they were already a couple by the time she attended the game. She also emphasized that they had spent a significant amount of time getting to know each other privately before she appeared at Arrowhead.
So the timeline has two different milestones:
- Relationship begins: summer 2023, after Kelce’s New Heights comments.
- Relationship becomes publicly visible: September 24, 2023, at the Chiefs-Bears game.
The friendship bracelet’s role in the story
The bracelet is a memorable detail, but it should not be overstated. Kelce said he made or carried a friendship bracelet with his phone number while attending Swift’s Kansas City concert. He did not manage to hand it to her, so the bracelet itself was not how they directly exchanged contact information.
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Its significance comes from the chain of events that followed: Kelce’s unsuccessful attempt became a story on New Heights, and Swift said the podcast discussion was what brought him to her attention. Friendship bracelets were also a major Eras Tour fan tradition, making the detail especially recognizable to Swift’s audience.
Disclosure: A friendship-bracelet kit can be a fan activity inspired by this Eras Tour story; it is not presented as a product used, endorsed, or gifted by Kelce or Swift. Readers who want to recreate that fan tradition can try a friendship bracelet kit.
What Travis Kelce has said about the beginning
Kelce’s November 2023 interview connected to a Wall Street Journal cover story supplied several details that complement Swift’s account. He said people around Swift helped create an opportunity for them to connect, described one person as playing Cupid, and said their first date was in New York.
During a January 31, 2024 appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Kelce was also reported to have said that he and Swift had known each other for roughly a month before the September 24 game. That comment supports the broader conclusion that the relationship was already underway before the public debut.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsWhat the later New Heights appearance adds
Swift appeared on New Heights on August 13, 2025. The official episode listing confirms the appearance and its date. However, the listing itself is not a complete searchable transcript, so it should not be used on its own to establish a new exact date for the relationship’s beginning.
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The strongest timeline remains the one Swift gave in TIME, supported by Kelce’s comments about their prior communication, the New York first date, and the approximate one-month period before the Chiefs game.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The most accurate timeline in one sentence
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift began seeing each other in summer 2023—probably around August, based on Kelce’s approximate timing—after Kelce’s July podcast remarks about trying to meet Swift, while their first date was in New York and their relationship became public at the September 24, 2023, Chiefs game.
What remains unknown
- The exact day they began dating.
- The exact date of their first New York date.
- The identity of the person Kelce described as playing Cupid.
- Whether any single conversation or introduction, rather than the podcast episode, was the precise moment they exchanged contact information.
Those gaps do not change the central conclusion: September 24, 2023, was the public debut of the relationship, not the day the romance began.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift start dating?
The best-supported answer is summer 2023, shortly after Kelce discussed his failed attempt to meet Swift at her July Eras Tour concert on the New Heights podcast. Swift later said those comments caught her attention and that they began hanging out afterward.
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What was the exact date of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s first date?
No exact first-date day has been confirmed. Kelce said their first date took place in New York, and he later said they had known each other for about a month before September 24, 2023. That suggests August, but August is only an approximate inference.
Was the September 24, 2023, Chiefs game their first date?
No. Swift said they were already a couple when she attended the Chiefs’ game against the Chicago Bears on September 24, 2023. That game was the relationship’s first major public appearance.
How did Travis Kelce first try to meet Taylor Swift?
Kelce said he tried to give Swift a friendship bracelet containing his phone number at her Kansas City concert, but he was unable to meet her. He then discussed the attempt on New Heights, and Swift said the podcast comments put him on her radar.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Kelce and Swift’s romance began privately in summer 2023, after Kelce’s July New Heights comments about his failed bracelet introduction. Their first date was in New York, and Swift’s September 24, 2023, appearance at a Chiefs game was their first major public moment together—not their first date.
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