It’s not even a year old, but the podcast starring Jason and Travis Kelce has become a national phenomenon.
The show wasn’t scheduled to begin until 7:30 p.m., but hordes of fans were lined up outside the Kansas City Music Hall two hours early. With the majority dressed in Kansas City Chiefs or Philadelphia Eagles gear, there was no mistaking what audiences came to see. For the first time ever, the New Heights podcast was hosting a live show.
Co-hosted by Jason and Travis Kelce, the weekly program gives fans unfiltered access into the minds of two future Hall of Famers. The brothers, whose off-field charm is just as endearing as their skills on the gridiron, welcomed a sold-out crowd Wednesday, April 26 in downtown Kansas City, one night before the city hosted the NFL Draft. Travis has called the City of Fountains home since being drafted in 2013, and most recently helped the team win its second Super Bowl title in four years. Notably, he beat his older brother in that game, which many dubbed the “Kelce Bowl.”
Retaining a listener for 90 minutes every week is no easy feat, but fans seem to gravitate toward the pair. Perhaps it’s because we can imagine similar discourse with our own siblings or friend group. Or maybe it’s fun to see athletes shed that “tough guy” exterior. Whatever the catalyst, it has made for phenomenal content over the last 10 months.
“It is incredible to see how fans have embraced the show and allowed us to engage with them on an entirely new level,” Jason and Travis shared with Boardroom in an email. “The 92%ers bring that energy week after week. Getting the opportunity to experience that in real-time as part of the live show is a career highlight for us both.”
“History elevates conversation,” added Tunde St. Matthew-Daniel, SVP of Original Content at Wave Sports + Entertainment, which produces the podcast. “It’s these guys, their history together not only as players but also brothers. And so you have that as your foundation to kind of build upon. It’s like they have the shared experience of being NFL brothers, but it’s even more important they have the shared experience of growing up in the same household, just two of them.”
St. Matthew-Daniel understands what makes a palatable program, and he knew how successful this show would be almost instantly. With stints at the NFL, Spotify, and Uninterrupted, his knack for storytelling and separating athletes from their craft made it easy for St. Matthew-Daniel and WSE to see the long-term potential for “New Heights.”
Athletes opting to produce original content that allows for better self-expression only strengthens the bond they have with fans. While speaking to Aaron Eanes, Travis’s manager and an executive producer of New Heights, he said this trend can be traced back to players “not feeling like their voices are being heard in traditional media.”
“When developing New Heights, ultimately what we wanted to do differently was to have a conversation between two brothers that are both the best at what they do, but at the same time have very different outlooks and interests,” he said. “So not only focusing on football and the X’s and O’s, but having a general conversation about life and what goes into the general day-to-day and give people a peek behind that curtain. Which ultimately is the reason I would say that New Heights has success with a broader audience than just the typical football fan.”
Eanes has a point. Jason and Travis, while revered for their playing, have elevated their celebrity status away from football. One month after lifting the Lombardi for the second time, Travis was in New York hosting Saturday Night Live. Never too far from his younger bro, Jason made a cameo in one of the skits.
Alongside then-teammate Beau Allen in 2018, Jason guest-starred in the Super Bowl LII-themed episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “Charlie’s Home Alone,” in Charlie Kelly’s imagination.
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