The Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce romance has scored an endorsement from none other than coach Ted Lasso himself. Jason Sudeikis, who grew up in Overland Park, tells THR (The Hollywood Reporter) that he personally thanked Swift over the summer for bringing her Eras Tour to Kansas City. She gave back-to-back concerts at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in early July.
Kelce attended the second concert at Arrowhead, when he now famously tried to ask the pop princess for a date. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end recently told the Wall Street Journal how the romance took off after he sent her a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it and her staff eventually persuaded her to text him.
“I was thankful to Taylor, just hanging out, coming to do two nights of shows here,” Sudeikis said in a THR interview posted online Tuesday. “All my friends, people with kids, people without kids, just had a blast. “And she was like, ‘Oh, it was an amazing run.’ Little did I know, just a few months later, she’d be our adopted daughter.” Since those concerts, Swift has returned to Arrowhead three times to watch Kelce play. Sudeikis went on to say he doesn’t blame Swift “for wanting to hang out here more. I don’t blame her for wanting to hang out with Travis. He’s a good egg.”
Swift and Kelce have been seen hanging out at a few places around town — partying at Prime Social near the Country Club Plaza with some of his teammates and enjoying a dinner date at Piropos in the Northland. Sudeikis is one of Kansas City’s homegrown Hollywood celebrities who continue to support the city even though they don’t live here anymore. He co-hosts the annual Big Slick Celebrity Weekend every year with Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle, Eric Stonestreet, David Koechner and Heidi Gardner, all of whom grew up in the area. Sudeikis came home earlier this month to host his annual Thundergong! benefit concert to support the needs of amputees. He and “Ted Lasso” co-star Hannah Waddingham sang “Shallow,” the Oscar-winning song performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in the 2018 movie “A Star Is Born.”
When the duet went viral online, the event’s haul surged past the $804,267. total announced that evening, a record amount. Sudeikis told THR he often thanks musicians and comedians for coming to Kansas City when other tours tend to head instead to St. Louis or Chicago. Save-the-date notices have been sent out for next year’s Big Slick weekend on May 31 and June 1.
