Showbiz
Usher has been booked to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show for 2024 but another pop superstar might be in attendance – with Taylor Swift’s adopted Kansas City Chiefs making the final.
Swift was seen kissing her boyfriend Travis Kelce, a key player for the Chiefs, after they defeated the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 on Sunday to qualify for the match.
Super Bowl LVIII will be played out at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, on February 11 and will be the climax of the American football season.
Swift has been dating Kelce since the autumn and watched the game from a suite before coming onto the pitch after the full-time whistle.
The singer has concerts scheduled for Tokyo on Friday, February 9 and Saturday, February 10 – meaning she will have to dash to Las Vegas on Sunday 11 to make the game in time.
She might have been a good luck charm for the Chiefs this season so far, but Kelce will be hoping he has one more performance in him with or without his girlfriend.
The 34-year-old Westlake, Ohio, native has played American football for NFL team Kansas City Chiefs his whole career – which professionally began in 2013.
He has twice before won the Super Bowl, in 2019 and in 2022, becoming famous for playing in his tight end position. This is an offensive position that “combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver,” according to Wikipedia.
Travis is the younger brother of fellow American footballer Jason Kelce. There has been some confusion, even in the Kelce family about the pronunciation of the surname but Swift fans can be safe in going with “Kel-see”. Travis has said he’s adopted this as it is what his father says, although other family members go with “Kelss”.
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Beyond football, Kelce has made a name for himself as something of a funnyman and personality by hosting Saturday Night Live and appearing as a fictionalised version of himself on comedy series Moonbase 8.
Like Swift, his personal life has been the stuff of tabloid intrigue – although he has somewhat brought this on himself by appearing as the prize bachelor on dating show Catching Kelce. The show was won by Maya Benberry and the pair dated from April 2016 to January 2017 – after which Kelce dated social media influencer Kayla Nicole until 2022.
Kelce might not outstrip his girlfriend in terms of income, especially with Swift securing her income from masters’ recordings by re-releasing her back catalogue.
But it’s fair to say he does all right for himself.
According to Forbes, Kelce takes home a $14 million per year base salary.
He also has endorsements with McDonald’s, Nike, Bud Light and State Farm which means he has a net worth of $40 million.
It pales in comparison to the $1.1 billion that Swift is valued at – but his number 87 jersey has seen its sales rise by 400 per cent since the pair started dating.
It’s unclear if his $57 million contract has a clause that gives him a percentage of shirt sales. If we say he gets a generous 10 per cent for every $50 shirt sold, he would be in Swift’s tax bracket if the Chiefs sold 200 million shirts (around the population of Brazil) with his name on it!
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