Thanks to Travis Kelce’s wildly successful football career, he has been a sports superstar for years. However, Kelce’s much-talked-about relationship with Taylor Swift has taken the amount of attention paid to him to a whole new level.

A perfect example of that is the attention that now gets paid to Kelce’s fortune since he is getting rich from his relationship with Swift. There has also been interest in how much money Kelce has made from hosting Saturday Night Live. What is even more interesting than that is the fact that despite his current fortune, Kelce almost went broke years ago.

How Did Travis Kelce Almost Go Broke?

During the 2013 NFL Draft, Travis Kelce was drafted in the third round. Chosen as the 63rd overall pick by the Kansas City Chiefs, it was clear nobody expected Kelce to become one of the NFL’s biggest stars. Still, even though Kelce wasn’t one of the top draft picks, that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t able to cash in right away.

Via: Instar

According to spotrac.com, a website that tracks athlete salaries, Kelce’s first contract with the Chiefs was considered to be entry-level. Sportrac reports that under that first four-year contract, Kelce was set to be paid a total of $3,126,304. Sportrac reported that on top of receiving a $703,304 signing bonus, Kelce was paid $781,576 annually for those four years.

Of course, those figures are nothing compared to what Kelce gets paid now. However, Kelce receiving $1,484,880 that first year of his contract must have been gigantic for him at the time. In the years since then, Kelce has revealed that he went wild after his first big payday.

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In 2021, Kelce made an appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast. During the resulting conversation, Kelce spoke at great length about his life and career. Arguably the most interesting part of the conversation came when Kelce was asked about his finances early in his career. “What was the first thing you purchased with some of your money from your rookie contract.”

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In response to that question, Kelce revealed something that most fans likely will find hard to believe. According to Kelce’s comments during that interview, he quickly spent all the money he first got paid from his rookie contract.

“Man, you want a, I spent it all, Shannon. I should have been on the 30 for 30: Broke the way I was spending!”

In 2012, ESPN released a documentary that is titled 30 for 30: Broke. During that documentary, the fact that many athletes who made tens of millions a year would later go bankrupt. The reason for that is athletes typically aren’t educated in finances and they spend like the money will never stop coming in. Once those athletes either retire or start getting paid less, there is no way for them to pay for the debts they’ve accumulated.

Via: Instar

After Kelce revealed he spent every penny he made during the first part of his contract, he offered some free and valuable advice to any young athletes whose careers are taking off.

“All the young guys in the league, all the guys that have the opportunity to, you know, get that big first check from the NFL, save it man. Find a financial adviser you trust, that’s going to do right with your money. Cause, I was searching around for car deals after my first year, just trying to pay rent.”