Beth Vancil braved Kansas City's barren cold for the Chiefs' first playoff game of the postseason Jan. 13 and had a night that was sweeter than fiction, with a seat right in front of Taylor Swift.
Swift, who watched the game from the player's box alongside boyfriend Travis Kelce's mom, posed for selfies with Vancil and her friend, Betsy Nacrelli. They exchanged banter about all the cameras pointed in their direction, and Swift even called Vancil a "good luck charm."
"Taylor was so down to earth," Vancil tells TODAY.com. "She's just a normal Kansas City Chiefs fan enjoying the playoffs."
When the game started, Vancil wanted to play it cool, and the duo waited for Swift to interact with her seat neighbors first.
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.
"She gave us a high five, and then we were high-fiving the whole game," Vancil says.
They also chatted with Brittany Mahomes, who was sitting in the box with Swift. The group joked about their predictions for each drive, and after Vancil accurately called one of Chiefs' touchdown plays, Swift gave her a nickname.
"She was like, 'Oh my god, you're our good luck charm,'" Vancil says.
The other highlight of the night came when the singer gave Vancil her scarf to handle the freezing cold. The temperature at kickoff was -4 degrees and dropped throughout the night, making it the fourth coldest game in NFL history. Memes of Swift staring out of an iced-over box window at the game spread rapidly on social media Sunday.
Recommended:
Vancil says her face was "very red" from the weather, something Swift noticed.
"She pulled (her scarf) off and was like, 'You need this, you're our good luck charm," Vancil says.
Vancil, a fan who attended the "Reputation" stadium tour, says Swift and the group of people she was with were easy to talk with.
"I turned around, and I said, 'For some reason, Taylor, people keep taking pictures of me, and I'm not sure why,'" she jokes. "She's like, 'You know, I have no idea.'"
At another point in the game, one of the people in the box dared Vancil to chug her drink, she says.
"He didn't think I would, and then I did, and he gave me a new one. He was bragging to Taylor about it that I chugged it," she says. "I guess he didn't really know also that I had to chug it or it would freeze."
Vancil shared photos and videos from the enchanted game on Instagram on Jan. 14 and saw a chance to make a reference Swifties will recognize. In "All Too Well," Swift notably sings about leaving behind a red scarf with an ex-lover, and it's become a pop culture touchstone.
"Kansas City. We came, we saw, we conquered, we swag surfed with Donna, Taylor and Brittany and Taylor gave me her scarf (it was not red and she doesn’t want it back)," Vancil wrote in her caption.
Vancil's pics soon went viral, with Swift fan accounts re-sharing her content on platforms like X, formerly known as Twitter, and TikTok. Fans have messaged her offering money for the scarf, including an offer for $500, Vancil says.
Vancil also saw a photo of her published online. During the game, Vancil exchanged “high 4’s” with Swift to celebrate Chiefs player Rashee Rice and his jersey number. In one viral photo, Swift leans out of the box and celebrates with Vancil.
The Jan. 13 game marked the second time Vancil and Nacrelli, who are both based in St. Louis, Missouri, sat near Swift. When Nacrelli initially got the tickets, she says she had "no idea" that Swift might be so close.
"I got the tickets because they were a really good view on the 50-yard line," Nacrelli tells TODAY.com.
Nacrelli, who is from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, says she’s always been a huge Kelce fan.
“He and his family lived four blocks from me,” she says.
The first time they sat near Swift was at the Chiefs-Bills game on Dec. 10. Nacrelli says she held up a sign to try to get Kelce's attention that said, “Heights raised” and “Cleveland Heights says hi.”
“And then we turn around as we’re standing close to the field, and I saw Donna Kelce arrive to her seat, and my heart stopped,” she says. "I said, 'Oh my gosh, Taylor Swift is going to be sitting right behind us.'"
During the playoff game Jan. 13, Donna Kelce seemed to be enjoying herself, notably joining the internet-breaking stadium-wide swag surf.
"Donna and Taylor were like besties at the game. It was so cute," Vancil says. "You could tell that they were close."
Vancil now calls the game "the experience of a lifetime." Nacrelli notes that she's still processing everything that happened.
"I think this is why it hasn't sunk in — when we're watching the game and you're in the moment, it felt so normal. Like, you're just watching it with a group of friends and fans, and you do, you get to kind of know the people in your section and around you," she says. "But it's just surreal to think that Taylor Swift was one of those normal fans."
Swift, Brittany Mahomes and Donna Kelce weren't the only celebrities the friends encountered at the Chiefs game.
Vancil and Nacrelli bought locker room passes for their game day experience, which let them see players like Kelce come off the field at the end of the game.
While in the elevator on their way to the locker room, they ran into Paul Rudd and former Kansas City Chiefs player Tamba Hali.
Vancil posed for a selfie with the famous Kansas City fan and former player.
"I said, 'Hey, let's take a selfie,'" Vancil recalls. "(Rudd) goes, 'Well I'm not as famous as Taylor, but I'll take one.'"
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
