Super Bowl: Travis Kelce brings a brand-new level of stardom, thanks to Taylor Swift

LAS VEGAS

Travis Kelce certainly has done enough in his football career to warrant attention. He’s won a pair of Super Bowls, recently became the league’s all-time leader in postseason receptions and is headed to the Hall of Fame shortly after his retirement.

But that’s not why he drew the biggest crowd at Super Bowl LVIII Opening Night on Monday when he and his Kansas City teammates made their first public appearance of the buildup to Sunday’s game against the 49ers.

Nor, this time, was it because he would be facing his brother’s team, as he did a year ago, prepping to play (and eventually beat) Jason’s Eagles with their mom, Donna, delivering cookies to them while wearing a custom-made red and green jersey split, like her allegiance, right down the middle. This year Donna — and even Jason — are all-in on KC.

While those accomplishments are noteworthy and the sibling storyline was cute, they don’t even begin to measure up to the hysteria that has been building around Kelce for the past few months. His relationship with music star Taylor Swift has endeared him to her legions of fans, pulled at threads in the already frayed political landscape of the country and even created some buzz over whether he might, at the conclusion of Sunday’s game, presumably after a Kansas City victory, propose marriage to his (and a good portion of America’s) sweetheart.

And now it’s reaching its pinnacle just as the football season is reaching its own, making him something almost unique to the sport and the culture at large.

A player who is the central character in football’s week-long narrative? That happens every year.

A non-quarterback who is the face of the big game? Rare. You probably have to go back to Ray Lewis a decade ago for one of those. But it’s not unheard of.

A participant who makes the hoopla around the Super Bowl suddenly seem small? Who manages to dwarf even the mega-machinery that keeps the mighty NFL churning? Whose growing legacy seems less reliant on Lombardi Trophies than just about anyone else who will be on the field Sunday?

That’s the stratosphere Travis Kelce has reached.

“I’m living the dream,” he said in response to the first question he faced on Monday which, predictably, and like the next half-dozen or so, had nothing to do with football.

It was quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who, until these past few months, was the undisputed face of the NFL. It was he who pulled Kelce along with him for the first steps into that consciousness, and he who, on Monday night, sat on the podium next to the throne occupied by his tight end while facing a throng of cameras and questions fractionally smaller than Kelce’s.

Everyone from Extra! to Carrot Top the comedian wanted to catch a glimpse of Taylor’s boyfriend.

“He’s enjoying just being able to be in a great relationship and also being able to play great football as well,'' Mahomes said. "It’s been cool to watch and be able to be a little bit a part of, but it’s been a heck of a season, a heck of a run. I’m glad that he is as happy as he is.”

There have been plenty of high-profile romances between football players and famous women over the years. Tom Brady was married to Gisele Bundchen for the second half of his career. But this is a very different dynamic.

Even commissioner Roger Goodell was asked several questions about their relationship during his news conference on Monday afternoon.

“It’s great to have her be a part of it,” he said, proudly calling himself a Swifty. “She’s the best of the best. She’s been nothing but a positive.”

Swift, meanwhile, is having her own very big moment without Kelce. On Sunday night she became the first artist ever to win four Album of the Year Grammys and casually announced that she has another album coming soon (perhaps, we must only presume, with a song about Travis). Kelce did not attend; he was flying to Vegas with the team.

After winning her awards, Swift went from Los Angeles to Tokyo for a few shows as part of her world tour and is expected to sprint back  to Vegas after the last of those performances on Saturday night, arriving just in time to watch Kelce and Kansas City.

“She’s unbelievable,” Kelce said. “She’s been reinventing the history books herself. Now I have to hold up my end of the bargain and bring some hardware.”

The NFL has spent millions of dollars sending games all around the world — to England and Germany and Mexico and, this coming season, to Brazil — all in the name of expanding the scope of the sport and introducing it to new fan markets.

This Super Bowl isn’t making Kelce a star. If anything, he and Swift are bringing their new level of stardom to it.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.