A US journalist who captured the first public pictures of Taylor Swift with her rumoured new love interest has said it has been “the craziest 24 hours of my life”.
Jarrett Payton filmed Swift leaving an NFL game with one of the sport’s biggest stars, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Mr Payton’s four-second clip of the couple strolling down a corridor as they left Kansas City’s Arrowhead stadium has been viewed more than 15m times on his X account.
“I was at the right place at the right time last night,” Mr Payton told the BBC. “This has been the craziest 24 hours of my life.”
Swift was widely pictured earlier that night in a box with Kelce’s mother, Donna, dancing, chatting and cheering for his touchdown against the Chicago Bears – each moment devoured by Swifties online.
Mr Payton, who works for Chicago’s WGN-TV and is also a former NFL player, went down to the field after the Chiefs’ 41-10 victory to conduct some interviews.
When he was done, he spotted Kelce and Swift up in the stands – and saw his opening.
“This is the moment in your life when you can either go straight or turn right,” he said.
Mr Payton turned right, in the direction of the Chiefs locker room, when he was stopped by a security guard.
“Don’t move, stay right here,” he was told. He then saw a group walk toward him, including a person Mr Payton had seen pictured with Swift earlier in the night.
“I pulled out my iPhone, started recording, and they walked by a second and a half later,” he said.
The video shows Swift greet Mr Payton with a casual “hey”, leaving him speechless.
Mr Payton is no stranger to fame – American football stardom in particular.
His father, Walter Payton, is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
The younger Mr Payton has attended the Super Bowl – football’s biggest night – almost every year since his father died in 1999.
But even a run-of-the-mill regular season game felt like something special with Swift, the world’s biggest pop star, in attendance, he said.
“Her being there felt just like a Super Bowl. That’s the energy that was in the building,” he said. “She was the talk of the game.”
Though Mr Payton said he isn’t a certified Swiftie, he does think she and Kelce make a good match. “They seem like they were really happy together,” he said.
“She’s a megastar, he’s a superstar in football. I know how challenging it’s probably going to be for them to make this work, but if it’s true love they’ll find a way.”
The viral clip may also have brought new fans to the game. Sales of Travis Kelce merchandise have jumped nearly 400%, sportswear company Fanatics told ABC News, landing him a spot as one of the top five selling players in the league.
And ardent Swift fans have been discussing online for how to understand the game.
“Do you throw the ball or run with it??” one person asked on X. “What is a down?” another inquired about a particularly unclear part of football terminology.
Kelce is thought to be the first non-Brit Swift has been publicly linked to since 2012, having previously been photographed with singer Harry Styles and actor Tom Hiddleston.
The pop star also had a relationship with actor and song writing collaborator Joe Alwyn – which was briefly shown in the 2020 documentary about her life, Miss Americana.
She has poked fun at the pattern herself, singing the lyrics “God I love the English” in her 2019 song London Boy.
