Travis Kelce just inked a podcast deal worth more than $100 million. See how he makes and spends his millions.
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- Travis and Jason Kelce signed a $100 million podcast deal with Wondery for their show "New Heights."
- The Chiefs' star tight end has dominated pop culture since he started dating Taylor Swift.
- He's built a multimillion-dollar career through his football prowess and engaging personality.
Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce and his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, have signed a three-year deal with Amazon's Wondery worth more than $100 million for their podcast, "New Heights."
"We couldn't be more excited to team up with Wondery for the next phase of 'New Heights,' the brothers shared in a statement received by multiple media outlets. "We love this show, and the fanbase that has grown with us over the last two seasons. Wondery understands the shared vision and will offer a wealth of experiences and resources to take us to 'New Heights.'"
The deal, which was announced Tuesday, comes just over a week before the Chiefs' kick off the NFL's 2024 season with a rematch of last season's AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Ravens.
But while Travis Kelce, 34, is widely known for his talent on the football field — he's the highest-paid tight end in the NFL — and his relationship with Taylor Swift, he's also built in impressive resume of endorsement deals, investments, and side hustles that contribute to his multimillion-dollar net worth.
Get to know the three-time Super Bowl champion — and how he makes and spends his millions.
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At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, Kelce has been an impact player since his early days in the league. After a successful but somewhat tumultuous college career with the Cincinnati Bearcats, Kelce slipped to the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft, where the Chiefs were waiting with the 63rd overall pick.
He barely played in his rookie season thanks to a series of lower-body injuries, but once he consistently saw the field in 2014, Kelce was off to the races. He led Kansas City with 862 receiving yards on 67 receptions, and he added five touchdowns on the impressive season.
Kelce's star kept rising from there. In 2016, the blossoming tight end recorded his first season with 1,000+ receiving yards; his 1,125-yard total was a league-high for players at his position that season.
But it was the introduction of Patrick Mahomes — a generational quarterback with a remarkable connection to Kelce — to the Chiefs that brought the Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native from great to indomitable.
In 2020, Kelce broke the NFL single-season receiving record for tight ends with 1,416 yards, and in 2022, he set the record for most receptions by a Chiefs tight end in a single-season with 110 catches.
Together, Mahomes and Kelce have recorded over 50 touchdown connections, making them one of the most threatening duos in NFL history. And they show no signs of stopping.
On April 29, Kelce signed a two-year contract worth $34.25 million, making him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL, CNN reported, citing his representatives at Milk & Honey Sports.
After news of Kelce's record contract broke, Mahomes wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), "I told yall I'll never let him leave!! Congrats my guy!"
Altogether, the nine-time Pro Bowler has already written himself a resume that contends with the all-time great tight ends. He's the only player at the position to finish seven seasons with 1,000+ receiving yards, and he did so in consecutive years.
Kelce is one of four tight ends in NFL history with 10,000 or more receiving yards, but perhaps, most notably, Kelce has won three Super Bowls and contributed significantly to the dynasty the franchise has built in Kansas City.
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Like the majority of rookies in the NFL — aside from those drafted in the first round — Kelce began his professional football career with a relatively humble salary. He received a four-year, $3.12 million rookie contract with a $703,304 signing bonus, per Sportrac.
But in 2016, after proving himself over his first few seasons with the Chiefs, Kelce signed a massive contract extension to stay in Kansas City. He earned $46,842,000 for five years — plus a $10 million signing bonus — to average nearly eight figures in annual salary.
Those numbers ballooned come 2020, when he agreed to a four-year contract worth $57,250,000, or $14,312,500 per year.
Kelce spoke on his most recent contract extension in a May 1 episode of "New Heights," telling listeners, "I'm so excited and so thankful to this organization for getting it done, making me feel appreciated and compensated the right way, and on top of that I got to move the needle for the tight-end room."
"I'm not a guy that sits out. I'm not a guy that holds out. I'm a guy that loves coming into the building, and the Chiefs know that," he added. "So, for them to want to, first of all, want to be able to get this done for me knowing how much blood, sweat, and tears I put into this thing for them, I'm extremely grateful and extremely thankful for everybody involved, man, I love Kansas City for it."
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With remarkable abilities on the gridiron and a bright and goofy disposition, Kelce has been an attractive candidate for endorsements with a wide variety of companies.
He's signed deals with Wingstop, Uncrustables, Zen Water, Dick's Sporting Goods, LG, McDonald's, Nike, Old Spice, Papa John's, Pfizer, State Farm, and many more.
In all, Kelce is thought to have made $5 million per year from these sponsors, according to a February estimate from Forbes.
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After blowing through the vast majority of his paychecks from the Chiefs his rookie year, per Profluence's Andrew Petcash, Kelce buckled down and became more serious about how he handled his money. In addition to saving more and building a growing endorsement portfolio, he began making shrewd investments in several different businesses.
Following the advice of Warren Buffett, Kelce has bought into what he knows. Some of his investments include Cholula, a hot sauce brand; Hydrow, a rowing machine company; INDOCHINO, a men's fashion house; RealTruck, a truck accessory company; and ThePlayersTV, an athlete-owned media network.
Some of those moves have paid off in major ways, such as when McCormick bought Cholula for $800 million in 2020.
But the tight end didn't stop there; he dove into business ownership, too. A fashion enthusiast, Kelce started his own clothing brand called Tru Kolors in 2019.
He also helped launch Hilo Nutrition, a brand that sells gummies promising various health benefits, as its "chief of performance" in 2019.
Additionally, Kelce co-owns Club Car Wash and founded a music festival called "Kelce Jam."
As of fall 2023, Kelce's estimated net worth had grown to $40 million, Forbes reported.
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Kelce and his older brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, co-host the incredibly popular "New Heights" podcast, which won Podcast of the Year at the 2024 iHeartPodcast Awards, as well as the People's Voice Award for best co-hosts at the 2024 Webby Awards.
On August 27, it was announced the brothers signed a three-year podcast deal with Amazon's Wondery worth more than $100 million.
"'New Heights' on the surface is a sports podcast, and sports is such a well-listened-to category, but it's become a cultural phenomenon — they're in that cultural zeitgeist," Wondery CEO Jen Sargent said following the announcement, per Variety.
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Kelce will host the Amazon Prime Video game show "Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?" which is a spin-off of Fox's "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" The show premieres in October.
"I grew up loving gameshows, and I'm excited to be following in the footsteps of so many TV icons by hosting my very first one," Kelce told The Guardian in a statement.
"The original show is a great success, so to be bringing a new format with everyone's favorite celebrities to the screen, will definitely be entertaining," he added.
In addition to hosting, Kelce is set to try his hand at acting with a role in Ryan Murphy's upcoming horror series, "Grotesquerie," though it's not clear who he'll be playing.
He's not stopping at the small screen, though. He's making moves in movies, too, as executive producer of upcoming war dramedy, "My Dead Friend Zoe," which premiered at the SXSW festival in March.
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Swift's huge economic impact is undeniable, and her significant other has benefitted from her stardom, too.
In November 2023, Bloomberg's Screentime Newsletter reported that Kelce's podcast grew by 350,000 subscribers on YouTube in the month following initial dating rumors. During the week Swift appeared at her first Chiefs game in September 2023, the show saw a 50% boost to viewership.
Her appearance also increased the Chiefs' fandom, with TV viewership soaring and Kelce's jersey sales increasing by nearly 400%.
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Kelce founded Eighty-Seven & Running in 2015 with a goal of helping underprivileged youth stay motivated to achieve great things in life "through fundraising, athletic programs, mentoring, and outreach initiatives," according to the organization's website.
According to Julianna Johnston Senturia, the executive director of Heights Schools Foundation, a local organization connecting alumni of Kelce's hometown with community leaders, the Chiefs superstar and his philanthropy helped provide thousands of young students with support, enrichment activities, and tutoring during the remote learning days of the pandemic.
Mary Esselman, the president and CEO of a Kansas City-based children's organization called Operation Breakthrough, said Kelce is more than "just an NFL star to our children."
"He has spent time with them, learning their names, showing them that they matter to him," Esselman said. "They don't realize that he was the first person to call and offer aid to our families back in March when COVID-19 hit. They just know that he has let them see him as a real person who cares about them."
"To me, THAT is the biggest gift Travis has given our children and, I think, it sets him apart," she added.
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First of all, Kelce attended his first Era's Tour concert in July 2023 — before reports emerged of his relationship with Swift — and we all know tickets for the concerts cost a pretty penny. He and Swift were also some of the many celebrities spotted in Indio, California, for Coachella in April 2024.
But beyond concert tickets — and flying by private jet to attend the shows — the tight end seemingly spends some of his millions on an opulent lifestyle fit for an NFL superstar. Kelce loves fashion, and he regularly wears designer clothes, expensive jewelry, rare collectors' sneakers, and luxury accessories.
He also likes cars, and owns more than a garage's worth of them. In addition to a relatively tame GMC Terrain, Carsforsale.com reports that Kelce also has an Aston Martin Vanquish, a Mercedes-AMG G 63, a custom Land Rover, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, and a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS convertible.
Meanwhile, multiple outlets have reported that Kelce's most recent real estate purchase was a $6 million mansion in the Kansas City suburb of Leawood, Kansas, complete with six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a pool, an outdoor kitchen, and over 3 acres of land.
His previous home has an estimated worth of about $1 million. He also co-owns a small condo in Orlando, Florida, with his brother and his parents, per Hello! magazine.
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