Tony Romo Knew Exactly What He Was Doing When He Accidentally on Purpose Referred to Taylor Swift as Travis Kelce’s ‘Wife’

Tony Romo never made it to a Super Bowl during his 14-year NFL career, but the former Dallas Cowboys star and CBS sports analyst still knows how to throw darts that stick a decade after leaving the game. Take, for instance, his repeated slip-ups during the 2023-2024 NFL season when he accidentally referred to Taylor Swift as Travis Kelce‘s “wife,” more than a year and a half before the couple got engaged.

Now, in a new interview with SiriusXM’s The Morning Mash Up on Thursday (Jan. 29), Romo, 45, said his mistake was actually no mistake at all.

“I did, kind of, play with the fans a little bit I think I was like, ‘And there’s…’ I think I said, ‘his wife,’” Romo recalled of his cheeky quip. “I did that on purpose and people were like, ‘Do you know something?’ I was like, ‘Nah, I just wanted to make you guys think for a second [and] just mess with you a little bit.’”

After referring to Swift as Kelce’s “wife” during the Dec. 10, 2023 Chiefs loss to the Buffalo Bills, a week later Romo let it slip again during the Chiefs’ game against the Raiders, saying, “As you see, Kelce’s wife, Taylor Swift, in the audience.” That time, he appeared to catch his slip-up, quickly adding the correction, “I’m sorry. Girlfriend!” Like the rest of the world, Romo’s co-host, veteran broadcaster Jim Nantz, wanted to know if his boothmate had some secret information, asking if the former quarterback knew “something we don’t know.”

Now we know, he did not.

After Swift began dating Chiefs tight end Kelce in 2023, the world’s biggest pop star — then in the midst of her record-setting Eras Tour — became a staple of network coverage of her boyfriend’s team, with the camera often cutting to her several times a game to gauge her reaction to Kelce’s play or check out which other celebs were joining her in the Kelce family skybox.

Kelce and Swift made it official on Aug. 26, 2025 in a widely seen Instagram post in which Taylor wrote, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” At press time the couple had not yet revealed a date or location for the wedding.