Kansas City (AFP) – A horde of Kansas City Chiefs fans were preparing to salute their team’s latest Super Bowl triumph on Wednesday in the NFL champions’ hometown victory parade, but with superstar Taylor Swift expected to miss out.
Fans clad in red Chiefs jerseys began taking up positions before dawn on the two-mile (three-kilometer) parade route which will wind its way through Kansas City before finishing with a victory rally.
The Chiefs are celebrating their third Super Bowl title in five seasons after beating the San Francisco 49ers in overtime in Las Vegas on Sunday to cement the team’s dynasty status.
Unseasonably warm weather in the Missouri city could see Wednesday’s crowd eclipse the more than one million who turned out at last year’s rally, city officials told local media.
But the team’s most famous fan — music superstar Swift, who is dating Chiefs icon Travis Kelce — will not be part of the triumphant celebrations, according to reports.
The singer, whose relationship this season with Kelce became a cultural phenomenon, sprinted back to the United States on Saturday from the latest leg of her money-spinning world tour in order to watch Sunday’s Super Bowl in the Nevada gambling hub.
However multiple media reports on Wednesday said Swift would play no part in the Chiefs parade, saying the star was now en route to Australia where she is due to perform in Melbourne on Friday.
Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas late Tuesday denied a New York Post report that Swift had been asked to stay away by local officials for security reasons.
“Not true at all,” Lucas wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Just had a great chat with (Kansas City Missouri Police Department) Chief (Stacey) Graves. We’re enchanted to welcome everyone to tomorrow’s parade and the women and men of our police department are prepared to keep all safe.”
The Chiefs meanwhile were gearing up for another mammoth celebration as fans took to the streets on Valentine’s Day to shower love on the back-to-back NFL champions.
The parade was due to get under way in Kansas City at 11:00 am local time (1700 GMT), and will last approximately two hours before concluding with a rally.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes took to social media on Tuesday to rally fans to turn out. “ChiefsKingdom let’s do it big tomorrow!!” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “See yall at the parade!”
Head coach Andy Reid meanwhile told players to keep the celebrations under control.
“It’s great to have fun but be smart,” Reid said in a video press conference with reporters on Tuesday.
His warning followed rowdy celebrations in last season’s parade which saw rookie cornerback Jaylen Watson end up leaving the event in a wheelchair.
Mahomes poked fun at his team-mate on Tuesday in a tweet related to the parade. “You going to make it this year bro?” Mahomes said.
