We still have no idea of Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce are actually dating. Despite the Fox Sports cameras cutting to Swift so often for reaction shots on Sunday that you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d accidentally tuned in to some new jock-themed music awards show, there was a notable dearth of actual TSwift music during the pop-meets-pigskin summit.
There are any number of perfect Taylor titles that the game’s producers could have used (out of context) as commercial bumpers to further hype the alleged budding romance between Swift and Kelce: “Look What You Made Me Do” after Kelce snagged a touchdown in the third quarter of the drubbing of the Chicago Bears at KC’s Arrowhead Stadium, or maybe “Love Story,” “The Man” or “‘Tis the Damn Season?”
But according to a blog post by NFL on Fox lead producer Richie Zyons, pictures had to tell the story, because music was not an option. “Earlier in the week, amid the avalanche of rumors, our bulldog associate producer Rich Gross had sought permission to use some of Swift’s music,” Zyons wrote on Thursday. “Not a chance. Per the FOX music department, Swift’s record label and publishing company denied our request “in conjunction with speculations on or about her private/personal/dating life.”
At press time a spokesperson for Swift could not be reached for comment on Zyons’ claims that the singer’s team had denied a request to play her music at the game, or to confirm the Kelce dating rumors.
Other than getting blank spaced on Swift’s music, Zyons described how the Fox Sports team were otherwise all-hands when it came to chronicling Swift’s breathlessly detailed football foray, which also reportedly included a post-game hang with the team. “The first time we peeked in on Kelce’s suite was during player introductions, minutes before the start of the broadcast,” he said. “Swift was there, seated next to Kelce’s mother Donna, and they both erupted in cheers as the tight end ran out of the tunnel. We played that back on tape early in the telecast.”
After that, Zyons said it was a matter of carefully balancing typical game coverage with glimpses of the A-list pop star, who appearance reportedly led to a major bump in Kelce jersey sales. “[Director Rich] Russo showed restraint not taking gratuitous live shots, saving the opportunities for when she reacted to action in the game. Her joyful expression after Kelce scored a touchdown was the image of the day, captured beautifully by our low end-zone cameraman Andy Mitchell.”
The camera could not keep its eyes off Swift, however, as she enthusiastically cheered on KC, including an instant viral moment when the singer yelled “let’s f–king go!” after Kelce’s score.
It could be deja vu all over again on Sunday night, as Swift is reportedly slated to attend the Chief’s prime time game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.
