Why Travis Kelce isn’t attending the MTV VMAs 2026 with wife Taylor Swift

Travis Kelce has a good reason for skipping the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards Sunday night.

The NFL star, 36, won’t be supporting his wife, Taylor Swift, at the awards show due to his football team, the Kansas City Chiefs, having a game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Florida.

As for Swift, also 36, she will attend the awards show hosted at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

The “Bad Blood” singer has a total of 11 nominations and will receive the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors.

The Artist Director Honors is “a new award recognizing groundbreaking music artists whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling,” per a press release.

It’s a big night for the “Fate of Ophelia” singer as she will also debut the music video for her new single “Patient Zero” — featuring her longtime friend Dakota Johnson and actor Colin Farrell — during the ceremony.

She previously teased the video with a 13-second preview that aired on “CBS Mornings” Thursday, giving Swifties a first look at the A-listers alongside her.

The clip came after Swift surprised fans with the announcement of the track on Instagram Tuesday, writing, “I’ve been impatiently waiting to tell you that my brand-new single ‘Patient Zero’ will be out on September 25 (!!!!!!!!!!!!).”

She later revealed that “Patient Zero” was one of four new songs on the deluxe edition of her 2025 album, “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore,” which was released Friday.

The additional tunes were “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.”

“About a year ago, you guys did a truly unfathomable thing. Something that completely blew my mind … You gave ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ the biggest first week for an album in history,” the “Shake It Off” hitmaker wrote via Instagram Wednesday.

She concluded the post by writing that the bonus tracks were “born out of pure gratitude for your exuberance for and celebration of the album we made.”

Kelce and Swift — who tied the knot at an extravagant, star-studded wedding in July — made their awards show debut as fiancés at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards in March.

Although the now-husband and wife did not walk the red carpet together, Kelce was photographed sitting alongside Swift in the audience throughout the ceremony.

Swift was the most-nominated artist of the night and took home Pop Album of the Year for “The Life of a Showgirl,” giving Kelce a sweet shout-out during her acceptance speech.

When her name was announced, Swift turned to her beau for a kiss as he hyped up the crowd and encouraged them to get on their feet for her.

“I think that this album probably also feels very happy and confident and free because that’s the way I get to feel every single day of my life because of my fiancé, who’s here tonight,” she said.