When it comes to celebrity couples in the NFL, there isn’t a more famous pairing than Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.
Anyone who has watched a football game involving the Kansas City Chiefs over the past two seasons can tell you that much. Social media is filled with pictures every time Swift arrives at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and TV cameras pan to her face whenever Kelce scores a touchdown.
But there are other celebrity couples around the league.
Perhaps the second-most notable duo of the bunch, albeit by a wide margin, will be on display this Sunday when the Chiefs host the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game.
That couple would be Bills quarterback Josh Allen and actress/singer Hailee Steinfeld.
Who is Steinfeld, you may ask? She is not as famous across the world as Swift. But she has a large fan following for her roles in popular films such as “True Grit,” “Spider-Man,” “Bumblebee” and the “Pitch Perfect” sequels. She has also appeared in TV shows such as “Dickinson,” “Arcane” and “Hawkeye.” Furthermore, three of her songs have reached the top 50 on the Billboard music charts.
Allen and Steinfeld have been dating for nearly two years and they announced their engagement in November.
If not for Kelce and Swift, they might have the biggest sports/celebrity crossover relationship in the country.But you would not know that based on the way the networks treat them, at least compared to Kelce and Swift.
Fans are guaranteed to see video of Swift if she is in attendance for a Chiefs game. The same can’t be said for Steinfeld. The CBS broadcast crew didn’t make a single reference to her when Allen scored a pair of touchdowns during a hard-fought win over the Baltimore Ravens.
Other famous NFL couples — Ciara and Russell Wilson, Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens, Olivia Culpo and Christian McCaffrey — also take a back seat to Kelce and Swift.
The vast difference in that media coverage is interesting. Networks spent enough time showing Swift during games last season that they received blowback from some fans who wanted less footage of her and more video of football. Now, some are beginning to ask for the occasional update on Steinfeld when the Bills play.
Perhaps they will get their wish when the Bills and Chiefs play for a berth in the Super Bowl this weekend. Or maybe nothing will change.
But both teams will have a celebrity couple on Sunday.
