Getty Taylor Swift and Donna Kelce at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on October 12, 2023.
The Buffalo Bills are set to host the Kansas City Chiefs for their third playoff matchup in the last four years, but it’s another special guest grabbing much of the attention ahead of the game.
The team is preparing for the likely arrival of Taylor Swift, who is famously dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and has been in attendance for many of his games this year. With a short break in “The Eras Tour,” Swift is expected to travel to Buffalo to take in the January 21 showdown between AFC contenders and the team is prepared with an unusual tribute.
Team’s Culinary Tribute to Taylor
The Bills announced that they are preparing for Swift’s arrival by introducing two Taylor-themed menu items at the stadium — Bad Blood Waffle Fries and Karma Quesadilla, both named for her hit songs.
Anda Altomare, the general manager of catering service Delaware North at Highmark Stadium, told NBC News that the new additions to the menu also pay tribute to both teams. The fries are topped with both Buffalo chicken and blue cheese along with Kansas City barbeque pork with cole slaw and pickles.
“Our culinary team has again designed a great menu for the Divisional playoff game this weekend, with several new items for fans as they cheer on the Bills,” Altomare said. “We had a lot of fun with this week’s menu — adding a few new options that celebrate this incredible rivalry with the Chiefs and their star-studded fans.”
The Bills have been known to introduce special menu items based on their opponents, the report added. When the Bills hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round last week, they offered waffle fries loaded with traditional Pittsburgh sandwich toppings — pastrami, cole slaw, and shredded cheese.
Taylor Swift’s Ties to Buffalo
Even before her expected visit to Orchard Park, Swift had some deep ties to the Buffalo area. The Observer reported that her lineage traces back to Western New York, with her great-grandmother living in the city of Dunkirk, about 45 minutes south of the stadium.
“Dunkirk was once the home of Eleanor Mayer, her great-grandmother, in the early 1900s,” the report noted. “She was the daughter of Julius and Delia Mayer — great-great-grandparents of Swift — who ran the Mayer Music Store that was located on the 200 and 100 block of Central Avenue.”
While The Eras Tour is skipping over Buffalo, Swift has performed there in the past. Syracuse.com recalled that she performed at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center, home of the Buffalo Sabres) in 2006 as the opening act for Rascal Flatts. She later performed there two more times — at the Erie County fair in 2008 and again in 2011 for her “Speak Now” tour.
As the Buffalo News reported at the time, Swift’s show at the Erie County Fair came just a few months after she graduated high school and brought in a sell-out crowd.
“To top it all off, her concert Monday night at the Erie County Fair was sold out and people who couldn’t get tickets were standing outside the gates to catch an earful of her singing,” the report noted.