Travis Kelce is reaching new heights.
Okay, so things are already awful with the news about the Chiefs potentially leaving Missouri in 2031, but THEN I found out Travis is leading everyone in the fan vote for the 2026 Pro Bowl! Seriously, it’s the second year in a row he’s topped the charts – like, of course he did, he’s amazing! It’s a little bit of good news amidst all the uncertainty, honestly. I voted like a hundred times, and clearly, so did everyone else! He deserves all the accolades.
At 36, he was voted the best among his NFL peers, finishing ahead of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who came in second. New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye placed third, and Chicago Bears’ Caleb Williams and Kevin Byard completed the top five.
After winning, Travis earned a spot on the Pro Bowl Games team, which is a fun flag football game between the top players from the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference. You can watch it live on February 3rd from the San Francisco area.
On December 23rd, the Chiefs congratulated Travis Kelce on his recent victory, shared on X (formerly Twitter). Kelce, who is engaged to Taylor Swift, was named number one on the list. The team also thanked their fans, saying, “Thank you, Chiefs Kingdom.”
Travis isn’t the only Kansas City Chief heading to the Pro Bowl next year. He’ll be joined by teammates Trey Smith (offensive guard), Creed Humphrey (center), and Chris Jones (defensive tackle), all of whom were selected for the AFC/NFC roster.
Fans are thrilled with the recent announcement that the team will move to a new stadium in Wyandotte County, Kansas, beginning in 2031, leaving their current home at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
The team’s CEO, Clark Hunt, announced on December 21st that they’ve reached an agreement with the State of Kansas to begin playing Chiefs football games there starting with the 2031 NFL season. Over the next several years, they plan to build a new, modern domed stadium and surrounding entertainment district in Wyandotte County.
Okay, so the Chiefs are saying this move is amazing for everyone around here, which is great, I guess. But honestly, what really got to me was when they said they’ll always be thankful for us Missouri fans. Like, seriously? After all we’ve done for them? All the tailgates, the freezing games, the unwavering support… it’s good to know they haven’t forgotten us, even if they’re moving. It just… means a lot, you know?
Arrowhead Stadium isn’t just a stadium to me, it’s where so many incredible family memories were made. But honestly, what really makes going to a Chiefs game special isn’t the stadium itself – it’s the fans. The seats are empty without us, the atmosphere comes from our energy, and we’re the ones who create that amazing game day experience – not the building or even the tailgates. It’s us who make it special.
For a deep dive into more about Travis and his NFL career, keep reading.
Although Travis Kelce is now strongly associated with Kansas City, Missouri, he actually spent his childhood growing up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
During game broadcasts with player introductions, the announcer proudly states his hometown rather than his college, the University of Cincinnati.
Which, as you might guess, has irked some fellow alums.
Travis Kelce fondly remembers his time at the University of Cincinnati, calling it something he ‘cherishes dearly.’ However, speaking at his 2019 Hall of Fame induction at Cleveland Heights High School, alongside his brother Jason, he admitted it wasn’t always easy. He faced challenges, including losing his scholarship due to some poor decisions. He jokingly acknowledged that he was ‘that guy’ who made mistakes, suggesting many people from their high school could relate.
He explained that Cleveland Heights wasn’t just meaningful to him personally, but to everyone in the community. He highlighted the city’s diversity and how it inspires him. He emphasized that everything he does is motivated by his dedication to Cleveland Heights, and even his celebratory moments – like dancing after scoring – are a tribute to the city and its people.
2. About that revoked scholarship…
Following Cincinnati’s perfect 2009 season and Big East championship, Travis tested positive for marijuana before the 2010 Sugar Bowl. This happened after he partied excessively on New Year’s Eve while in New Orleans.
He didn’t just miss the bowl game; the NCAA suspended him for the entire 2010 season and he lost his college scholarship. This left him without housing or meals, so he moved in with his brother Jason – sharing Jason’s room with his teammates – and took a job as a telemarketer, where he called people to get their opinions on the Affordable Care Act.
They did, and Travis could not wait to get back on the field.
You know, people often assume athletes just always played their current sport, but that’s rarely the case! Take Travis, for example. He was actually a really versatile athlete growing up – he played hockey, baseball, and basketball before focusing on football. He initially started as the quarterback in high school, and was even recruited to Cincinnati as a two-star QB! Interestingly, he actually switched positions to tight end – it was a requirement for getting back on the team after a suspension. It just goes to show you how journeys can change, and sometimes a shift can lead to incredible things!
When I was drafted by the Chiefs in 2013, we already had a great quarterback in Zach Collaros, but we needed to improve both our running and passing attacks. I spoke with my coach, Butch Jones, and he felt a tight end would be a good addition. He believed my abilities, athleticism, and how I played would be a perfect fit, and it turned out that was exactly right, as things worked out perfectly for me.
He told GQ magazine in 2017, reflecting on a low point in his career, that people had always seen him as a tight end, regardless of what he did.
Travis often hung out at the house on 127 W. Nixon Street with his teammate Jason and other members of the Bearcats, and things often got wild with a lot of beer involved.
According to college friend and teammate Tom DeTemple, the brothers would spend hours playing Nintendo 64, often combining it with drinking games. He told the New York Times before the 2024 Super Bowl that they’d invent these games on the spot and were surprisingly skilled at playing while drinking.
5. And suffice it to say, Travis is extremely proud of being a Bearcat.
Before the 2023 Super Bowl, the quarterback expressed his strong connection to Cincinnati, telling reporters how proud he is of his time at the University of Cincinnati. He recently earned his degree and enjoys supporting the university whenever possible, often returning to campus. He especially cherishes the relationships he built with his former teammates and the people who supported him throughout his life, both during good times and bad.
Even while facing NCAA scrutiny, he explained that the players, coaches, and staff at the university had faith in him and believed he could improve his situation. He said their support meant a lot to him then.
After nearly ten years away from school to pursue a career in football, Travis finally completed his degree in interdisciplinary studies in 2022. He officially received his diploma in April 2024 at a special, unexpected graduation ceremony held in Cincinnati after he and Jason recorded a live episode of their podcast, New Heights, at Fifth Third Arena.
As the graduate walked up to the dean for a congratulatory handshake, he was already holding a beer and immediately drank it down after shaking the dean’s hand.
And Travis was going to graduate in 2022 but he missed his flight.
Travis Kelce wasn’t one of the first tight ends drafted in 2013, largely because of some personal issues. He was picked fifth at the position, going to the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round. Once Travis was on the team, coach Andy Reid, who had previously coached Travis’s brother Jason in Philadelphia, asked Jason to give Travis a positive recommendation.
Andy and Travis have three Super Bowl rings to show for Jason’s endorsement.
Travis used to listen to Randy Newman’s song “Burn On” before every game for years, although his pre-game music choices have since evolved.
Growing up on the east side of Cleveland, this song always makes me reflect on family and how grateful I am for my life, he explained on the 2017 NBC Sports podcast, PFT Live.
Let us explain: It’s in the opening credits of Major League, the ultimate Cleveland sports movie.
9. Everyone, including Travis, is mispronouncing his last name.
Everyone’s been pronouncing Kelce as “Kel-see,” but the correct pronunciation actually rhymes with “else.” Jason and he have been doing it that way too, though.
The news came out when Chris Jones, Travis’ teammate, mentioned it on Inside the NFL in January, saying, “It’s just crazy, right?” Travis and his brother Jason later confirmed the story when they talked to their dad, Ed Kelce, on their New Heights podcast.
Jason was confused. “Why did you suddenly change your name? And why did we all think it was ‘Kel-see’ for so long – 27 years for me, 25 for Trav?” he asked.
Ed admitted he “got tired of correcting people” but urged his son to “do whatever you want.”
Travis has worn the number 87 throughout his NFL career to honor his brother, Jason, who was born in 1987.
Travis Kelce shared with NFL Films that the family’s NFL story – having two brothers, himself and Jason, play professionally – began with his birth in 1987, just before the 2023 Super Bowl where his Chiefs faced Jason’s Eagles.
Travis Kelce’s Eighty Seven & Running foundation has consistently supported Operation Breakthrough, a Kansas City nonprofit learning center. He first volunteered there in 2015, reading The Cat in the Hat to the children, and has been involved ever since.
Yes, reader, he wore the hat.
Since then, Travis has supported the program by funding its Smart Lab and purchasing the building next door. This allowed them to create the Ignition Lab, where students transformed old, discarded cars into functional electric vehicles.
Travis and Jason affectionately call their podcast listeners “92 percenters.” This nickname comes from a joke Jason made about a football play called a quarterback sneak, which he said succeeds about 92% of the time when a team only needs to gain one yard for a touchdown.
Listeners loved the podcast so much they started calling themselves the “92 percenters,” as if it were a special inside joke, according to the podcast’s website.
Who were the Kelce brothers to argue with that?
Travis Kelce works with three trainers—Alex Skacel, Andrew Spruill, and Laurence Justin Ng—and typically has one of them travel with him to help him stay in peak condition for football year-round, according to The Athletic.
Alex, a physical therapist, remembered Travis wanting to go for a run late at night after Paris Fashion Week. Travis had skipped his usual workout that day and felt the need to be active.
According to an interview with the New York Times in April, the trainer said they were doing sprint workouts on the bridges over the river at midnight. He emphasized that no matter the location, the athlete always makes time to complete his necessary tasks.
Travis’s chef, Kumar Ferguson, has been a close friend of his since they were kids growing up in Cleveland Heights.
In 2016, he was a truck driver who enjoyed cooking as a hobby when Travis contacted him with a job offer.
Kumar recounted to Vanity Fair in 2023 that the person said, ‘I really want to commit to a healthier diet and take it to the next level.’ Kumar responded by saying he was immediately on board, and just a few days later, he found himself in Kansas City.
He handles a wide range of tasks, from simple things like refilling Travis’ refrigerator to more involved duties like providing nutritious lunches for the Chiefs players at their practice facility.
Travis Kelce has been getting a lot of attention for his facial hair lately. He recently shared on his podcast, New Heights, that he shaved his beard after the season in 2023 and kept only his mustache as a tribute to the look favored by his coach, Andy Reid. He’s decided to do the same thing in 2024.
I was absolutely thrilled when Travis signed his new contract in April 2024! It’s a two-year deal worth $34.25 million, and it finally made him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL – something he truly deserves after all his hard work.
Which finally put an end to years of chatter about how much money he wasn’t making.
In a 2023 interview with Vanity Fair, Travis Kelce joked that his managers and agents constantly point out how much he deserves to be paid. He said whenever he brings up wanting a raise, they tell him to ask the Kansas City Chiefs for more money.
By that point, he had found other ways to make money, so he was more interested in enjoying his work than in how much it paid.
He said the idea of a free market seems good until you experience losing. He emphasized that he enjoys being successful and is happy with his current position.
It’s a little discouraging to see other players earning so much more money,” he said. “It makes you wonder if you’re being fairly compensated. I’m not sure if pushing harder would actually get me what I deserve, but I genuinely enjoy my job and going to work every day.
Travis developed a passion for clothing early on, growing up in Cleveland Heights. He described his high school as a daily “fashion show” in a 2023 interview with Vanity Fair.
He transformed a bedroom into a walk-in closet to store his expensive clothes and extensive sneaker collection – over 300 pairs! He even splurged on a pair of size 13 Nike Air Mags with a significant part of his first professional salary, even though they didn’t quite fit.
He told the Wall Street Journal that early in his career, before sneaker apps were common, he’d just buy whatever size of shoe he could find that he liked.
He’s a big fan of Nike, especially since they sponsor him, but he also loves Chuck Taylor sneakers. They remind him of the famous baseball player Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez from the movie The Sandlot.
18. Among his dozens of investments, Travis co-owns Ohio-brewed Garage Beer with Jason.
Look, everyone knows I enjoy a beer or two, so I was thrilled to become an owner of Garage Beer! I’m really passionate about helping them create what I think will be the best light beer out there. Honestly, nothing beats sharing an ice-cold beer with the people you care about – that’s what it’s all about for me and my partner, Jason: good times with friends and family.
19. We’re sensing a theme when it comes to Travis’ guilty pleasure TV choices.
He reminisced about the show Gossip Girl, describing it on the New Heights podcast as a classic New York high school drama. He explained that it was full of gossip and people talking negatively about each other.
His new favorite show? Peacock’s Emmy-winning backstab-a-ganza The Traitors.
I’ve been a huge Travis Kelce fan for years, and it’s been really eye-opening to hear him talk recently about how much the game has physically affected him. After 12 seasons in the NFL, and being 35 now, he’s finally sharing what it’s really like on his body – it’s tough to hear, but I respect him so much for being honest about it.
He’s faced a constant stream of injuries since the start of his career, beginning with a knee fracture that kept him from playing his first season and ultimately led to ten surgeries.
Travis Kelce recently shared on his podcast, New Heights, that he tried to give Taylor Swift a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it while she was performing in Kansas City, but wasn’t able to.
She heard through mutual connections that Travis wanted to meet her, so she reached out to him.
He told WSJ. Magazine that she explained the whole situation to him, and how fortunate he was that she contacted him.
Travis has always loved French toast, especially when it’s covered in whipped cream and syrup.
But more recently he’s become a fan of his girlfriend’s homemade Pop-Tarts and cinnamon rolls.
23. At least one of Travis’ ringtones is Chris Farley shrieking “For the love of God!” in Tommy Boy.
He told WSJ. Magazine that he’s eager to share his love of comedians like Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, and Will Ferrell with Taylor. He explained, “I told her, this is what I really enjoy!”
After the Chiefs won the AFC Championship in 2019, Travis Kelce shouted “You’ve got to fight for your right to party!” This inspired the team to play the Beastie Boys’ song of the same name after every touchdown scored at home games in Arrowhead Stadium.
Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach described Travis Kelce as a huge boost to team morale, saying in 2020 that it’s difficult to overstate his impact. Kelce brings a contagious energy, passion, and positive attitude that unites the team. Everyone in the Chiefs organization considers Travis a friend, and he consistently lifts the spirits, focus, and attention of those around him while also making things enjoyable.
The person who famously introduced the 1986 song to everyone surprisingly didn’t learn all the lyrics until he had to sing it with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show in February 2023.
In May 2024, Travis revealed his three favorite Taylor Swift songs: “Blank Space,” “The Alchemy,” and “So High School.”
When asked about them again a few months later, he surprisingly said he loved them all, and meant it – every single one.
He publicly stated in August 2025 that his favorite song from The Life of a Show Girl is “Opalite.”
I remember even when Travis Kelce first came into the league, people were already talking about him like he could be as great as Tony Gonzalez! Gonzalez was a legend for the Chiefs – he played for 17 seasons before retiring in 2013 – and the comparisons to Travis started almost immediately. It was clear from the beginning that people saw something special in him, something that reminded them of Gonzalez’s incredible career.
Back in 2015, as people began to wonder if Travis would exceed Tony’s accomplishments—and how let down everyone would be if he didn’t—Travis claimed he ignored all the talk.
I’m my own harshest critic,” he explained to Complex. “I’m aiming for a record-breaking season as a tight end – I want to have the best stats ever recorded for the position.”
In 2024, Travis became the Chiefs’ all-time leader in receptions, breaking Tony’s record with his 917th catch.
Travis recently reflected on how things often come back around, sharing on the New Heights podcast that it’s amazing to be leading the Kansas City Chiefs, a team with such a long and storied history dating back to the 1960s. He emphasized that their continued success is rooted in that history, and specifically credited Tony Gonzalez as a key mentor and someone he greatly admires.
27. Of Travis’ many accomplishments, keeping his house in order on his own isn’t one of them.
“He can’t clean,” mom Donna Kelce told Extra in September 2024. “He can’t cook.”
But perhaps hosting a special someone served as extra motivation to get it together.
“He’s getting a little better,” Donna acknowledged. “I think he’s getting some help.”
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2025-12-24 05:19