Travis Kelce’s Friends Think Taylor Swift Relationship Is the ‘Real Deal for Him’

PHOTO: ARTURO HOLMES/FILMMAGIC; IMAGE PRESS AGENCY/NURPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK

“Travis’ friends think this is the real deal for him,” the insider close to the Kansas City Chiefs star says exclusively. “They’re still a little shocked by all of it — that he’s dating the Taylor Swift, but they’ve seen how down to earth she is with his friends and family.”

The source adds that the relationship is “growing” because the NFL tight end, 34, and the music superstar, 33, both have found success in their own worlds — and they continue to appreciate one another’s accomplishments.

“They’re both really hard workers, and he acknowledges her art is hers, and he has what’s his,” the source tells PEOPLE. “He understands the territory their relationship comes with and like he said, isn’t letting any of the hoopla impact how they’re growing together.”

The source adds, “Their relationship is about the two of them, and he sees Taylor for who she is and vice versa.”

For Kelce, that extended to seeing Swift in Argentina earlier this month, during the Chiefs’ bye week.

At the Eras Tour concert at Estadio Monumental (River Plate Stadium) in Buenos Aires on Nov. 11, Kelce could be seen enjoying Swift’s performance from a VIP tent, alongside her dad, Scott Kingsley Swift.

In fan-captured footage from the concert, the NFL star seemingly showed delight while he watched the singer perform “Karma,” in which she cheekily changed the lyrics to suit her suitor.

GOTHAM/GC IMAGES

“Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me,” Swift sang, causing Kelce to flash a huge grin.

 Everything Travis Kelce Has Said About Taylor Swift

After the concert, footage showed Swift rushing into the waiting arms of her beau as the two embraced and kissed.

Now, having wrapped the South American leg of her tour, the “Lavender Haze” singer has time off until February — all of which gives the couple time together as the holidays approach.

In a wide-ranging interview with WSJ. Magazine last week, the football player shared that life with Swift is a whole other kind of ballgame, and that he’s “never dated anyone with that kind of aura about them.”

“I’ve never dealt with it,” Kelce added. “But at the same time, I’m not running away from any of it…. The scrutiny she gets, how much she has a magnifying glass on her, every single day, paparazzi outside her house, outside every restaurant she goes to, after every flight she gets off, and she’s just living, enjoying life. When she acts like that I better not be the one acting all strange.”

He said that spending time getting to know Swift has been eye-opening, admitting, “I’ve never been a man of words. Being around her, seeing how smart Taylor is, has been f—ing mind-blowing. I’m learning every day.”

Taylor Swift points to boyfriend Travis Kelce in the Eras Tour crowd during trophy lyric in sweet Super Bowl nod, before bringing back her iconic ‘karma is the guy on the Chiefs’ line

Travis Kelce‘s post-Super Bowl victory tour went Down Under this week, where he received another mid-concert shoutout from girlfriend Taylor Swift.

Swift and Kelce were seen out together at the Sydney Zoo on Thursday and then attended her concert that night.

It was there that Swift decided to give two nods to her beau in the audience through her lyrics.

During the second verse of her song ‘Long Live’ off her album ‘Speak Now’, Swift sang the line ‘We are the kings and the queens / You traded your baseball cap for a crown / When they gave us our trophies / And we held them up for our town.’

At the mention of trophies, Swift held her guitar up and seemed to point out in the direction of Kelce in the audience.

Taylor Swift appeared to give two shoutouts to her boyfriend Travis Kelce in Sydney

Kelce was in the audience and Taylor brought out her ‘Karma is the guy on the Chiefs’ line

She also pointed to him when singing a lyric about trophies, just after he won the Super Bowl

While Kelce’s offseason begins, Taylor is in mid-season form and has plenty of shows ahead

taylor pointing at travis when she sang ‘when they gave us our trophies’ during long live 🫶🏻 pic.twitter.com/JjBGLsSrkp

— Tayvis Nation 🏈🫶🏻 (@tayvisnation) February 23, 2024

That drew cheers from the packed audience at the Accor Stadium in the Olympic Park suburb of Sydney.

Later in the show, Swift had an encore of her altered ‘Karma’ lyric, where she once again sang out ‘Karma is the guy on the Chiefs’ instead of ‘guy on the screen’.

Kelce landed in Australia on Thursday, just a few days after winning Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas against the San Francisco 49ers.

They’re reportedly staying together at the high-end hotel Crown Towers in a suite that runs up over $16,300 USD ($25,000 AUD).

While Kelce is just getting into his offseason, it’s a busy time for Swift. She’ll play three more shows in Sydney before staging a long six-night stay in Singapore.

From there, she takes a nearly two-month break before continuing her Eras Tour in Europe.