'This Is Like My Super Bowl': Payton's Encounter With Swift Goes Viral

CHICAGO — To call Jarrett Payton’s quest to track down Taylor Swift at Sunday’s Bears-Chiefs game in Kansas City a mission may be a bit of a stretch.

Payton, a WGN sports anchor and son of Bears Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, posted on X (formerly Twitter) early Sunday that one way or another, he would find a way to locate Swift inside Arrowhead Stadium. But when the plan Payton had initially to locate the pop music sensation fell through, the mission of finding her and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce became an afterthought.

Until everything changed in a heartbeat thanks to Payton being in the right place at the right time.

A 5-second video of Swift and Kelce walking together captured by Payton on his phone after the Chiefs’ 41-10 win over the Bears has now been viewed more than 17 million times. The video is believed to be the first capturing Swift and Kelce together, and has landed Payton on TMZ and has him fielding interview requests from media outlets as far away as New Zealand.

Payton was in a box with family “Modern Family” actor Eric Stonestreet — a connection that he figured might provide a path for a brief interaction with Swift. Stonestreet, a Kansas City native and huge Chiefs fan, had invited Payton and his family to join him and his friends inside his box at Arrowhead Stadium.

Payton knew Swift was expected to be at the game supporting Kelce, with whom she had been rumored to be romantically linked. TV cameras continually panned to Kelce’s box capturing images of Swift with Kelce’s mother, who sat next to the pop music star. So, Payton figured between Stonestreet’s connections and having family friends who were seated in Kelce’s private box, getting a glimpse of Swift would be easy.

But when the chance to pop into Kelce’s box never panned out, Payton gave up on the notion of having any interaction with Swift. Payton, who was also on a WGN work assignment to do a live shot after the game with fellow WGN sports anchor Kaitlin Sharkey, went about his business, putting the idea of seeing Swift aside.

After doing a live shot on the field, Payton planned to gather his things and head out to a car that would take him back to his hotel. As he walked up the ramp from the field, Payton was stopped by a Chiefs security officer, who asked him where he was headed. When he told him that he was making his way back to his car, the security guard ordered Payton not to move.

“Things got real in a matter of seconds,” Payton told Patch on Tuesday.

Payton noticed fans starting to filter by — including several in jerseys with Kelce’s No. 87. Payton then noticed someone he knew was in Kelce’s box and figured that Kelce — and likely Swift — were likely not far behind.

Payton took out his phone, which was already set to camera mode after he had planned to take a photo with Sharkey on the field. Payton, sensing something big was going to happen, swiped over to video mode and got his camera into position. Within less than a second, Kelce and Swift appeared around the corner and Payton shot video of the two walking by.

Perhaps surprised by a phone being out, Kelce gave Payton a side-eye glance before saying "How ya doing, man?," and Swift looked at Payton and said, “Hey, how's it going?” — extending it into a gleeful greeting that left Payton — a self-described Swiftie – speechless outside of an out-of-breath, "How you doing?" reply from the stunned TV anchor.

A security guard tried to put his hand over Payton’s phone as the pair walked by, before another member of Chiefs security told Payton to delete the video. Payton seemed to comply, but did not, and within minutes, put it out on X for the world to see.

“When I started to think about what I had, I knew it was big,” Payton said. “I knew it was huge. … I just knew the talk all day long was about (Kelce and Swift) and I got something with those two in it and I knew as soon as I posted it, I knew it was going to go big.”

Before Payton’s car even got on the highway, Stonestreet texted him and said the video had blown up. Stonestreet said Payton had captured Kelce and Swift together for the first time — a video that caused Swifties and pop culture fans to lose their collective minds.

Since Sunday, Swift’s presence at the game has overshadowed the game’s result — one that dropped the Bears to 0-3 on the season. But for Payton, who uses social media to interact with fans and the general public, capturing the moment transcends anything else that has happened during his nearly 10-year television career.

After doing an interview with TMZ on Monday after returning from Kansas City, Payton says he has been contacted by the BBC and other media outlets. He said he didn’t shoot the video with the intention of selling it, and said he just wanted to capture a moment in which he was able to complete his mission of seeing Swift in the wild.

Payton says his 7-year-old daughter helped introduce him to Swift’s music. He did not attend one of Swift’s Soldier Field shows this summer but has now committed to seeing her live anytime she is anywhere close to Chicago on a future tour stop. But for now, he will relish his brief interaction with Swift — now having a front-row seat to the musician who has become an international superstar.

Since Sunday, Payton says his social media following has blown up, adding between 8,000 and 10,000 followers on X and Instagram. And while the video has taken on a life of its own, Payton says he put it out there for people to enjoy — not to bring any type of notoriety to himself and his social platforms. He said his Instagram post including the video has received more than 1,471 times more views than any of his previous five posts.

“I just wanted people to see the moment,” Payton told Patch. “It was really about the moment. It wasn’t really about anything else.”

He added: “But being in the TV business for almost 10 years, this is the biggest thing I’ve ever done. …it blew up to something I will never, ever see again. I’ll never see anything like this again socially ... This is like my Super Bowl.”