Every man needs a little alone time, and Taylor Swift’s better half is no exception.
Soon Travis Kelce will be chilling out in the new mancave he’s building underneath his sprawling Kansas City mansion.
The Chiefs superstar snapped up the $6million home last year in an exclusive gated community where he and Taylor Swift spend much of their time together.
He’s looking to put his own stamp on the six-bed property by carving out a 396-square-foot underground den that will be big enough to house an indoor golf simulator, according to plans seen by DailyMail.com.
Construction teams were spotted arriving on site this past week to begin excavation work that will see the basement floor dug up and lowered by two-and-a-half feet.
The project has been signed off by the City of Leawood, a leafy Kansas City suburb 20 minutes south of Arrowhead Stadium.
And phase one should be finished by December if all goes to plan, causing minimal disruption to Kelce’s frequent guests that include his brother Jason and superstar teammate Patrick Mahomes, both avid golfers.
The golf simulator should provide plenty of fun for the ultra-competitive Kelce brothers, who have entered numerous charity golf tournaments and have both won the American Century Long Drive Contest.
The space could also provide the perfect studio location for recording episodes of their smash hit New Heights podcast.
The siblings had a busy weekend celebrating Travis’s birthday before heading to Monday night’s Chiefs-Saints game, Travis helping his team extend their winning record to 5-0 and Jason providing analysis for ESPN.
Swift also touched down in Kansas City to cheer on her tight end beau who hauled in nine receptions for 70 yards.
The A-List couple toasted the Week 5 win with a typically PDA-packed display, with footage posted to X of the pair enjoying a post-game kiss and cuddle in Swift’s VIP box.
The Bad Blood singer was a no-show as Travis celebrated turning 35 on Saturday by throwing a car festival followed by a private dinner party.
But her arrival at the game was widely anticipated after he let slip that she was coming to town while chatting to VIP guests at his Kelce Car Jam event.
Travis at least got to celebrate with his nearest and dearest, with the entire Kelce clan in attendance, including mom Donna, dad Ed, Jason and Jason’s wife Kylie.
Mahomes and his wife Brittany also roared up in a $500,000 Ferrari 812 supercar – one of multiple pricey motors on parade at Saturday night’s block party.
Proceeds went to Kelce’s 87 & Running Foundation which raises funds for needy kids in Kansas City and Cleveland.
The family all headed to downtown Kansas City afterwards for a private afterparty at the swish Aristocrat Lounge above the Midland Theatre.
Donna shared a fun exchange with DailyMail.com when we asked her what she had bought Travis for his birthday.
‘I can’t tell you because I’m giving it to him after Monday’s game,’ she chuckled, before hopping into a limo to head back to her hotel.
Speculation about Taylor heading to Kansas City had swirled all week with a rumor circling about her hiring out a popular barbecue joint Wednesday night for a pre-birthday celebration.
There were no confirmed sightings of the songstress, however, who has gone to considerable lengths to mask her flight details and whereabouts since the foiled terror attack at her Vienna concert in August.
Swift also wasn’t there to watch the Chiefs beat the Los Angeles Chargers 17-10 the previous week.
But, according to one well-placed source, her absence was no indication that her romance with Kelce was cooling off: Swift simply doesn’t see much of her boyfriend when he’s playing away games.
Coming solely to home games means they can instead enjoy quality quiet time at Kelce’s ultra-private home which is surrounded by tall trees and shrubbery and can only be accessed by passing a 24-hour security gate.
Set in the manicured grounds of a gated community and far from the public gaze, it is the perfect bolt-hole for low-key dates, dinners and movie nights.
Kelce and Swift did venture out undetected late last month when swish Kansas City eatery Noka was reportedly closed to the public so they could enjoy an intimate catch-up.
According to Deux Moi, ‘The restaurant was claiming it was closed for maintenance but it’s the same restaurant where Britanny Mahomes had her birthday dinner not very long ago.’
That came on the heels of a bumpy period for Kelce and Swift who recently celebrated one year of having made their romance official with the anniversary of the singer’s first public attendance at Arrowhead Stadium on September 24.
Only a couple of weeks earlier they were forced to defend themselves against allegations that the whole relationship was a PR sham following an alleged leak of documents purporting to be from Kelce’s public relations team.
Full Scope PR engaged lawyers to ‘initiate proceedings against the individuals or entities responsible for the unlawful and injurious forgery of documents,’ that appeared to offer a comprehensive strategy for Swift and Kelce’s impending breakup, even giving the date of the supposed event as September 18.
Three days after the leak, they attended the US Open where they drew attention for their very public displays of affection as they rocked out to The Darkness’s, ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’.
On the field meanwhile, Kelce has thus far had a poor season, leading fans and pundits to question whether his numerous off-field activities are a distraction.
Former ESPN analyst Todd McShay is one who voiced his belief that the star is out of shape, having spent his offseason focused not on training, but on Swift.
McShay didn’t mince his words recently on The Ryen Russillo Podcast.
‘Every show I watch, every pregame show, halftime show, postgame show, weekday show, every broadcast I watch for the last few weeks, it’s like are we not allowed to say that he’s out of shape, that he’s been partying all offseason?’ he said.
‘He’s been jet-setting around with the most famous person probably in the entire world, that he’s drinking, going to the US Open… take a picture from preseason 2022 and then take a picture preseason 2024, they’re barely the same human being.’
