Hallmark Channel Is Cashing in on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Romance with Movie ‘Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story’

Tony Maglio
·3 min read

Christmas is coming early for Swifties who are also fans of Hallmark Channel movies. This time for real.

This “Countdown to Christmas” season, the Hallmark Channel will debut new original movie “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.” We wonder where they got the inspiration for this one… (Hallmark Channel is now calling its fans “Hallmarkies.”)

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The made-for-TV movie is not a total ripoff of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s romance, which dominated tabloid headlines, late-night talk shows, and much of the NFL season coverage in late 2023 and early 2024. The Chiefs, with Swift in attendance, won Super Bowl LVIII in February, repeating as champions. Thanks to a great game (late) — and those Trayvis stans — the 2024 Super Bowl was the most-watched TV program since the 1969 moon landing. “Holiday Touchdown” probably won’t amass 123.4 million viewers.

In the Hallmark Channel version, Alana Higman (Hunter King) is sure that her family’s lifelong history as Kansas City Chiefs super fans makes them a shoe-in to win the team’s “Fan of the Year” contest. Derrick (Tyler Hynes), the team’s director of Fan Engagement, is tasked with evaluating how Alana and her family stack up against the other two finalists.

You’ll never guess where this goes.

As the pair spends time together, it’s clear there’s a spark between them, but when her grandfather’s (Ed Begley Jr.) lucky, vintage Chiefs winter hat goes missing, Alana “begins to doubt everything she believed” about fate and destiny and even “questions her future with Derrick — unless, that is, a little Christmas magic can throw a Hail Mary.”

That must be some hat. Anyway, at least it’s Hallmark and not Lifetime — nobody dies (we hope).

Hallmark, like the Chiefs, is based in Kansas City. “Holiday Touchdown” begins filming in July and will shoot entirely in Kansas City, Missouri locations — including at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs play.

“With Hallmark and the Kansas City Chiefs both homegrown, rooted in values, tradition and community, there is a special alchemy between these two iconic organizations,” Darren Abbott, Hallmark’s chief brand officer, said in a statement. “By blending the warmth of Hallmark storytelling with the excitement of professional football, we are thrilled to give audiences a front-row seat to this community’s spirit, rich traditions and passionate fans that define Kansas City, all wrapped up in the comforting and uplifting Hallmark way.”

The Chiefs actually leaned into the Swift-Kelce hype last year with a spoof of a Hallmark Channel holiday movie with a trailer for the fake “Falling for Football” — and Hynes was its leading man. The whole thing was really just an advertisement for the team’s AFC Championship Game.

Watch that here:

“We are honored to partner with Hallmark on a project as unique as this,” Chiefs President Mark Donovan said of the real movie. “As a club, we pride ourselves on exploring new ways to grow our brand, as well as connect with new audiences. This partnership unites two passionate fanbases and gives us an opportunity to show Chiefs Kingdom’s energy and tradition on one of the most-watched channels during the holiday season.”

There will be a whole bunch of game-day activations, fresh merch, and other types of promotion leading up to the premiere, Hallmark and the NFL announced. Skydance Sports, a newly formed venture between Skydance Media and the NFL, serves as the executive producer of “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.”

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