While it’s anyone’s guess how much Taylor Swift‘s star-studded wedding to Travis Kelce cost, rumors continue to swirl. Although one expert estimated it could have cost up to $50 million, other estimates have placed the cost in the range of $20-$30 million. In any case, it’s likely that the actual amount will never be known.
However, one aspect of that presumably ginormous sum has been made public — by Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City.
Taylor Swift Paid NYC $160K for a Permit
During a press conference held on Friday, July 10, Mamdani confirmed that Swift and Kelce required a permit in order to host their nuptials in Madison Square Garden. Because the famed venue is situated smack dab in the middle of Midtown Manhattan, the event required extra police presence.
“Taylor Swift will be paying … has paid already the cost of the permit that was lodged, which was over $160,000 for that event and for the response to that event,” Mandami said during the press conference, broadcast live on C-SPAN (via The Hollywood Reporter).
“And that was a permit that was finalized in the days just before the event itself,” he clarified.
Taylor Swift Likely Paid Other Costs to the City
When a journalist asked Mamdani whether that $160K sum was just for the permit, or whether it also included the costs of overtime pay for NYPD officers assigned to provide security, the mayor clarified that it was the permit fee itself that cost $160,000.
This, noted THR, means that Swift very likely paid even more to the city in order to cover those and other additional costs.
Mamdani’s response came after criticism that NYC taxpayers would foot the bill for the extra police presence that turned Madison Square Garden into a virtual fortress on the day of the wedding.
Preceding the Wedding Came a $26M Charity Donation
Just before the wedding, Swift and Kelce donated $26 million to an array of charities, many within the NYC area.
In the wake of that grand act of philanthropy, questions are arising about whether there may have been a hidden meaning behind the charitable giving.
As The Guardian pointed out, fans began pondering whether the amount of the donation may have been symbolic, theorizing that 26 is double 13 — which, as any Swifties worth their salt are well aware, has long been her lucky number.
The Police Held the Line on Taylor Swift’s Big Day
According to the recollection of one well-known wedding guest, the NYPD was doing such a good job at crowd control that black limousines lined the streets.
In a recent episode of his TUBI podcast “The Other Football,” former NFL great Rob Gronkowski revealed, “It was the most amount of black cars I’ve ever seen going into MSG. It was five blocks of black cars in a row.”
To pass the time, he watched a World Cup soccer match while waiting for his car to make it to the entrance. “I’m like, ‘Heck no, I ain’t just sitting here doing nothing. Let’s put that game on the screen,” he quipped. “That got me prepared for the wedding, because that’s one of the best games you could have possibly watched … The game got you out of your seat, it got you excited, and same with this wedding, man.”
