People: Jason & Travis Kelce aren’t finished, even if Jason is retiring from the NFL
Now that I know more about the Kelce family, I understand why Jason and Travis Kelce are such a big deal in the sports/football world. Two nice-looking white guys from a middle-class family in a sport which rewards whiteness, attractiveness and talent. Jason, Travis and their mom Donna are an advertiser’s dream, which probably explains why Travis is in a million commercials and they have big-name advertisers for their podcast New Heights, plus they make pocket money by doing Instagram advertising. Well, Jason Kelce – the older brother – is now retiring from the NFL. But not before People Magazine put the Kelces on this week’s cover!
On Monday night, as Philadelphia Eagles fans watched the seconds tick down on their team’s season — and tears welling in star center Jason Kelce’s eyes, signaling an apparent decision to hang up his cleats — it was hard not to sense the end of an era.
“Thirteen seasons. Seven-time Pro Bowler. Six-time All-Pro. One Super Bowl. One No. 1 podcast. And one Sexiest Man Alive title,” ESPN analyst Pat McAfee said the following day on his show, ticking off Jason’s career accomplishments. “Hell of a run….” But for the Brothers Kelce, “the run” seems nowhere near done, even if Jason has played his last down in the NFL.
If last February’s Super Bowl LVII, in which Travis’ Kansas City Chiefs defeated Jason’s Eagles, touched off the dizzying hype of Kelce Mania, the ensuing months — crammed with their chart-topping New Heights podcast, the record-breaking Amazon Prime documentary Kelce, a slew of endorsements and Travis’ high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift (which helped boost the NFL’s female viewership by more than 2 million) — have only supercharged the fascination.
“It’s been really surreal and a fun ride to be on,” their mother Donna Kelce, 71, tells PEOPLE of her unique vantage of the phenomenon. “Being able to be with my kids — the experiences, the places, enjoying people I’ve never met before. And I’m very happy they get to enjoy the fruits of their labor, because it’s [been] a tough ride to get where they are now.”
As Travis told PEOPLE last April of what he learned from his parents, who remained together for the sake of their kids until Travis left to join Jason at the University of Cincinnati: “My entire upbringing [was about learning] to fuel people. . . . I was always taught to be a fountain, not a drain, [to] provide something instead of [taking].”
These days, both Jason and Travis find themselves with plenty to offer — and plenty to devote to second acts whenever the time comes, from their growing media empire to investments in everything from F1 Racing (Travis) to a Missouri cattle farm (Jason).
For now, Travis will continue to hone his charisma on the New Heights podcast, opposite Jason, his worthiest foil. “They’re just as competitive as adults today, always jabbing at each other [about] who’s the best,” says Donna, laughing. “It doesn’t stop. They’re each other’s biggest fan.”
I saw a clip from New Heights where Travis was irritating the crap out of his big brother, to the point where Jason cut the podcast off and only returned the next day. Jason is 36, Trav is 34. They still have some childlike dynamics sometimes, but it’s cute – birth order really is everything for many families. Anyway, I’m sure Jason will have a lucrative post-NFL career. Some broadcaster will probably want him to do commentary, and I’m sure advertisers will still want to work with him, especially with the “Taylor Swift shine” on the whole Kelce fam.
Photos courtesy of Getty, cover courtesy of People.
