Madison Beer and Justin Herbert are engaged after a months-long romance that brought the buzzy Los Angeles-based couple to Eugene last year. 

The musician and the Eugene man struck up a rumored romance last year, bringing together the gigawatt pop star with the former Sheldon High School Fishing Club president.

Herbert is the quarterback of the Los Angeles Chargers, and a beloved alumnus of the University of Oregon football team.

Beer announced the engagement in an Instagram post Tuesday, July 28, simply captioning: “meet my fiancé.”

Beer and Herbert started spending time together last August, when the football player was spotted at one of her music video shoots, before TMZ posted photos of the two in September.

At the time, I met with our sports correspondent Tyson Alger to try and hash out what the romance meant for Eugene a via video summit between two sides of the newsroom that rarely meet:

A blossoming romance followed in the weeks ahead. In October, the two were seen kissing pregame on the sideline of a Chargers game, before sitting together courtside at a Los Angeles Lakers game.

In November, things were serious enough for Beer to come to Eugene and see Herbert’s hometown. The two were spotted multiple times in Eugene by Lookout reporters in Trader Joe’s and perusing vintage stores on Nov. 18 and 19. (There was no active paparazzi effort; our staffers just kept running into them.) 

A high-profile engagement is a stark change from the Oregon Ducks version of Herbert, whose true love was football. At Oregon, Herbert passed for 10,541 yards, 95 touchdowns and led the Ducks to the 2020 Rose Bowl title.

When reached for comment en route to the airport, Alger added that Herbert has “been pretty decent with the Chargers.”

The engagement comes just weeks after Beer wrapped up her international tour in support of her album “Locket,” ending the run of shows with a concert in New York City weeks before news of the engagement.

Now, all that’s left is to plan a wedding between two celebrities that could potentially land in Eugene.

Our request for comment to Beer’s team went unanswered last fall, so pressing questions still remain as the engagement raises more:

Would a wedding take place in Eugene, where Herbert’s family lives? Could the two follow in the footsteps of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce and stage a stadium wedding, maybe in Autzen? 

And, critically: Is The Duck invited? 

Annie Aguiar is the Arts and Culture Correspondent. She has reported arts news and features for national and local newsrooms, including at the Seattle Times, the Washington Post and most recently as a reporting fellow for the New York Times’ Culture desk covering arts and entertainment.