Travis Kelce‘s close friend Aric Jones is opening up about what it’s really like to sit in a VIP suite with Taylor Swift on game day.
“Taylor’s great. Taylor’s her own woman. And like, if Taylor wants to participate with us on theme nights, of course, we welcome it,” Jones told Page Six in an interview published Wednesday, October 2, while describing how he and more of Kelce’s inner circle “get fresh” for Kansas City Chiefs games.
He added of the 34-year-old pop star: “But at the end of the day, just having her there and having her presence there is awesome. She’s there to cheer on her boyfriend and hang out with us and, to be quite honest, that’s enough.”
Jones’ connection with Kelce, 34, dates back to their kindergarten days in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. According to Jones, the pair take pride in staying “true to our roots” as Kelce’s star status has evolved.
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“I’m never going to downplay [the hype] or to say [the new attention] isn’t the coolest stuff in the world,” Jones confessed. “But, at the same time, all we got to do is be us. And the only thing that’s changed is that there’s a camera in the suite now.”
Swift made her first appearance at Arrowhead Stadium in September 2023 after sparking a romance with Kelce that summer. She attended 13 Chiefs games throughout the 2023-2024 season — including the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, where she celebrated the team’s back-to-back championship wins.
While Jones has enjoyed getting to know Swift at the games, not all sports fans feel the same. Swift, however, has brushed off the criticism about her camera time during NFL broadcasts.
“I don’t know how they know what suite I’m in. There’s a camera, like, a half-mile away, and you don’t know where it is, and you have no idea when the camera is putting you in the broadcast, so I don’t know if I’m being shown 17 times or once,” she said in her December 2023 TIME Person of the Year cover story. “I’m just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads and Chads.”
Every Time Taylor Swift Attended an NFL Game to Cheer for Travis Kelce
Swift is fully embracing her newfound sports fandom. “Football is awesome, it turns out,” she teased. “I’ve been missing out my whole life.”
Kelce and Swift both kept busy during the offseason. He was frequently spotted cheering her on throughout her international Eras Tour shows, even joining her on stage in London in June. With the football season back in full swing, Swift is once again donning her Chiefs gear to watch Kelce’s games from the VIP suite.
Swift was spotted at the team’s home opener against the Baltimore Ravens on September 5 and saw the Chiefs defeat the Cincinnati Bengals on September 15. She was noticeably absent, however, when the team traveled for back-to-back away games in Atlanta and Los Angeles later that month.
“They’re spending as much time together as possible while balancing their careers and individual responsibilities — his game and her music empire, along with personal projects,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly, insisting “nothing has changed” between the couple despite speculation about their status.
According to the insider, the pair are “choosing not to dwell on the noise” surrounding their relationship. “Their schedules are going to be getting super busy, so Taylor has been enjoying a few more days of freedom before her upcoming shows,” the source told Us. (The Eras Tour returns on October 18 for its final North American leg.)
Kelce and Swift are “looking forward to spending the holidays together” and “will be figuring out their next moves after the new year,” the insider added.
