The Kansas City Chiefsmay be the reigning powerhouse of the NFL, but at the premiere of The Kingdom on Sunday night, even football took a back seat to one of the league’s most-followed love stories.
Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt told PEOPLE that the six-part ESPN series, which chronicles the team’s push for a historic three-peat, also delivers a fresh perspective on tight end Travis Kelce‘s romance with global superstar Taylor Swift.
“The Kingdom gives fans a fun … little peek into Travis’ relationship with Taylor,” Hunt said on the red carpet at Kansas City’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. “There were definitely some elements of that where there were some new things that we learned.”
Hunt explained that while the franchise and its fans experienced Swift‘s arrival into “Chiefs Kingdom” in real time, the documentary’s ability to highlight her perspective made it feel unique.
“We all lived the experience of having her join the Chiefs Kingdom a couple of years ago, and hearing the recounting of her coming to that first game, really from her perspective, I thought was really unique,” Hunt added.
Swift’s first Arrowhead appearance revisited
That debut came on Sept. 23, 2023, when Swift stunned the sports world by sitting alongside Travis‘ mother Donna Kelce at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs defeated the Chicago Bears 41-10 that day, with Kelce scoring a touchdown as Swift cheered from the suite.
Their relationship quickly became public the following month when the two were photographed hand-in-hand at an SNL afterparty in New York. What began as speculation about an unlikely romance soon became one of the most prominent celebrity storylines in sports and entertainment.
Taylor tells her side
Hunt‘s comments followed Swift‘s own decision earlier this month to open up about the early days of their relationship. Appearing on New Heights, the podcast hosted by Travis and his brother Jason Kelce, Swift recalled the “insane” football question she asked Travis on their very first date.
“On our first date, I legitimately asked him what it was like when the Chiefs played the Eagles in the Super Bowl and he looked across the field across the line of scrimmage and saw his brother standing on the other… five feet in front of him on the field,” Swift said.
The game in question was Super Bowl LVII in 2023, when the Chiefs edged the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in one of the most dramatic finishes in recent memory. Jason Kelce, then still the Eagles’ veteran center, retired after the 2024 season.
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