Travis Kelce to kick off 1st Chiefs season since marrying Taylor Swift

Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs will open their 2026 regular season Monday night at home against the Denver Broncos, marking the star tight end's first regular-season game since marrying Taylor Swift this summer.

The Chiefs and Broncos will face off at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, with kickoff scheduled for 8:15 p.m. ET.

The game could also bring another milestone for the newlyweds: Swift's return to Arrowhead.

It is not known whether Swift will attend Monday night's game. Neither Swift nor Kelce has publicly said whether she plans to be there.

If she does attend and is seen publicly, the game could mark one of Swift's first major public appearances since the couple's July 3 star-studded wedding at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Could this be Travis Kelce's final NFL season?

Monday's game will begin Kelce's 14th season in the NFL.

Kelce has not said that he plans to retire after the 2026 season, but questions about his future have followed him into the new year.

After the Chiefs finished the 2025 season 6-11 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014, Kelce weighed whether to return before ultimately announcing in March that he would be back for another season.

In a new interview with ESPN's Chris Berman, Kelce said he still has the "desire" to keep playing.

"I'm still kind of sitting here like I don't want to let this thing go ... I want to keep playing until the wheels fall off, I always say," Kelce said in the interview, which also aired Monday on "Good Morning America." "I still have the desire to go out there and compete, and I still think I can compete at a high level, I love this game so much that, you know, I'm I'm not ready to you know go into that next phase yet."

Kelce is playing this season on a one-year contract. The veteran tight end enters the season after leading Kansas City in targets, receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in 2025. He has spent his entire NFL career with the Chiefs since the team selected him in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft.

Taylor Swift's history at Chiefs games

Arrowhead Stadium played a major role in Swift and Kelce's relationship becoming public.

On Sept. 24, 2023, Swift surprised fans when she attended a Chiefs game against the Chicago Bears and watched from a suite alongside Kelce's mother, Donna Kelce. The appearance came shortly after Kelce publicly revealed that he had invited Swift to see him play at Arrowhead.

Swift went on to become a fixture at Chiefs games during the 2023 season, attending 13 games, including all four of Kansas City's postseason games and Super Bowl LVIII, where the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers.

She returned for multiple games during the 2024 season, particularly at Arrowhead, and attended the Chiefs' postseason run through Super Bowl LIX in February 2025.

By the 2025 season, however, Swift's presence became far less visible. She was not seen at the Chiefs' season opener in Brazil and largely kept a lower profile even when attending home games at Arrowhead.

Describing his wedding to Swift during the offseason, Kelce told Berman, "It was the best night of my life. Marrying Taylor was, you know, it was more than I could have ever dreamed it to be because of all the people that showed up and the amount of love that was in the air."

He continued, "It's been unbelievable."

How to watch Chiefs vs. Broncos on Monday Night Football

The Kansas City Chiefs host the Denver Broncos Monday, Sept. 14, at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. ET, and the game will air on ABC and ESPN.

The matchup marks the Chiefs' first regular season game of 2026 after the team missed the playoffs last season following a 6-11 finish. Denver enters the season after ending Kansas City's nine-year run as AFC West champions.

For Kelce, Monday night begins another season in Kansas City -- his first as Swift's husband and one that could ultimately prove to be his last in the NFL.

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