Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement may have kicked off a major earthquake in the real world this week, but it hasn’t put serious seismic activity into the lives of the spouses-to-be: They were spotted out Thursday night in a luxury box catching — wait for it — a college football game, where Swift took her new engagement ring out for a test drive.
It was the first game of the 2025-26 NCAA season for the hometown University of Cincinnati Bearcats, the Kelce brothers’ alma mater, who lost to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Cornhuskers by a field goal at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The bros (Jason was there too) were rooting for the Bearcats, obviously, with Travis rocking a street-art emblazoned Cincinnati cap and his older sibling sported a more traditional college typeface on his chapeau.
Swift rocked a denim miniskirt, according to People, with a white sweater, white boots, green nails and, oh yes, that massive engagement ring. The Old Mine Cut diamond ring was designed by Travis Kelce and New York City-based jewelry designer Kindred Lubeck, according to myriad media reports.
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While experts who talked to People put the size of the stone at between 5 and 10 carats and guesstimated its value as anywhere from $125,000 to $5 million — which is quite the range — folks who talked to Page Six said it likely came with a $1-million price tag. Basically, nobody knows the value of a custom-made, vintage-style ring with a one-of-a-kind hand-etched diamond that is currently sitting on the ring finger of a global pop star. Go figure.
“It’s my engraved pieces that put me on the digital map,” Lubeck told VoyageJacksonville in 2024. “I started making reels showcasing my work and people started noticing. Eventually, I started getting requests for me to make engagement rings.”
The Neptune Beach, Fla., native has described herself as a goldsmith specializing in hand engraving who got started working part time with her jeweler dad in her hometown during the pandemic lockdown.
“Basically, I take very small, sharp instruments and cut away bits of metal, usually on the sides of rings, into a particular design,” she said. “People just go crazy for it when I post it online.”
No kidding: On Friday, Lubeck appeared to be sold out of every big-ticket ring she had been offering on her website, though a handful of sub-$20,000 designs were still in stock. (Swifties, where you at? A bunch of them can be had for less than $5,000! And they’re not even “distressed.”)
The Grammy-winning “Love Story” pop icon and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end announced the beginning of their engagement era on Tuesday in a joint Instagram post.
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” Swift captioned photos from the garden engagement, which actually took place a couple of weeks earlier.
Kelce’s dad told a Cleveland news station the same day that Travis had popped the question at home in Lee’s Summit, Mo., after months of planning, right before the two headed out for dinner. Before they left, Travis told Taylor, “‘Let’s go out and have a glass of wine.’ … They got out there, and that’s when he asked her, and it was beautiful,” Ed Kelce said.
He added with a happy shrug, “I don’t know how much I’m supposed to say, but I don’t care!”
But Vice President JD Vance definitely cares — about the effects this pairing might have on the NFL this season.
“I will say as a football fan — as a Cincinnati Bengals fan — I hope that the NFL does not put a thumb on the scale for the Kansas City Chiefs just because Travis Kelce is now getting married to maybe the most famous woman in the world,” the veep told USA Today this week.
“You guys can’t sort of have this, ‘I’m worried they’re going to have a Super Bowl wedding’ thing this season. Can’t do it. The Kansas City Chiefs have to follow the same rules as everybody else.”
So in the case that the NFL’s “deep state” turns romantic and favors the Chiefs in this pigskin-tinted love story, Vance is urging fans to be ready to act.
“I think all football fans should be willing to push back on the NFL,” he said, “and say, ‘Look, you guys got to be fair.’”
Fair enough.
Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
