How Travis Kelce And Jason Kelce’s New Heights Podcast Comes Together

Whether it’s Jason Kelce’s epic speech while in costume at the Super Bowl LII championship parade or Travis Kelce’s elaborate touchdown celebrations, the brothers are known for their outgoing personalities.

“(We) typically entertain whoever is around us,” said Travis said via email.

Now the Kelces have a new entertainment platform — New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce.

The co-hosts of that podcast share impressive football credentials. Each is a leader on his respective NFL team, has won a Super Bowl, made multiple Pro Bowls, played under coach Andy Reid and played for the University of Cincinnati.

Previously, they had been too busy to talk extensively during the grind of the NFL season. So, Travis, who chose his jersey No. 87 as an homage to his brother’s year of birth in 1987, is enjoying that opportunity while recording New Heights.

“It’s been good to just have that set amount of time to be able to just sit down and chat,” Travis said. “It’s like we’re just kicking it at dinner back when we were in high school and college together.”

Travis said the brothers have slightly different tones. Jason acts a little more like the big brother he is, and Travis is a little more light-hearted, though neither takes themselves too seriously on the show.

Older brother (35-year-old) Jason is listed first in the podcast’s title, but he and 33-year-old Travis, who does the 30-second opener, share duties. This is not a Pat Summerall/John Madden situation, where one is the traffic cop and the other is the analyst.

“It’s the perfect two-hander,” said Tunde St. Matthew-Daniel, senior vice president, original content of Wave Sports + Entertainment (WSE). “It’s a sitcom with two brothers.”

St. Matthew-Daniel, who used to be a producer for the NFL’s digital media arm, had previously broached Travis’ camp with an idea for an NFL show in 2016, though it did not come to fruition.

For this current iteration, WSE reached out with an idea of a show for the Kelces early in the summer of 2022, and it debuted on Sept. 8.

“We saw an open space to bring our unique point of view to a wider audience,” Travis said, “with the intention of sharing our authentic take on the NFL and the culture around it.”

The weekly podcast is slated to run every week (even during the offseason) and lasts between 60 and 90 minutes.

The brothers record remotely on Tuesday, which is usually a day off for NFL players across the league, and a team of WSE employees edits, post-produces and releases the show on Wednesday — about six-to-10 hours after the Kelces originally recorded it.

Though it’s typically remote and once a week, they recorded a bi-weekly, in-person show when Jason’s teammate, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, was a guest on Nov. 10. Since it was Travis’ bye week, they broadcasted from the Eagles’ facility.

When Travis’ quarterback, superstar Patrick Mahomes, was the guest for the Dec. 1 show, Travis and Mahomes recorded from the Kansas City Chiefs’ training facility, and Jason was remote from his studio.

WSE set up remote studios for both brothers since Travis lives in Kansas City and Jason is in Philadelphia. Travis has more room in his house than Jason, who has a wife and two young children, so it was a bit easier to find studio space for Travis.

Mindful of the Kelces’ busy NFL schedules, the brothers and producers rely on an ongoing group text thread with topics to prepare for each show. There are guidelines for each podcast, but it is not scripted.

“These guys are natural conversationalists,” St. Matthew-Daniel said. “We have prompts, but, one, they’re prompts that they also helped develop together, but also at the same time, they call some audibles right on air.”

Amusing and candid topics — such as Jason’s Fatman persona or how the New York Giants could’ve gotten rid of Kadarius Toney — have been discussed on New Heights.

That title is a double entendre, referring to where the brothers grew up in Cleveland Heights and the new multimedia journey they’ve embarked on.

Across its podcast, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube platforms, New Heights drew more than 53 million impressions from mid-October to mid-November and is seeing 20% growth each week. It has more than 250,000 subscribers on YouTube and was the No. 1 sports podcast on Spotify for more than two months.

“The audience is strong,” St. Matthew-Daniel said. “And the audience is growing.”

Athletic Greens, LinkedIn and DraftKings are regular advertisers, and New Heights commands up to 100% higher CPMs (the price of 1,000 advertisement impressions on one web page) than industry standard. It already has sold substantial inventory through the first quarter of 2023.

On the field, their teams are excelling as well. Jason’s 10-1 Eagles have the best record in the NFC, and Travis’ 9-2 Chiefs have the best in the AFC.

That has led to some talk about a possible Kelce Bowl in Super Bowl LVII.

It could also be dubbed the Andy Reid Bowl. Reid coached Jason, the longtime Eagles center, in Philadelphia before becoming the tight end’s head coach with the Chiefs in 2013.

It’s just part of their shared relationship that they can discuss on New Heights.

“I’m having a blast,” Travis said. “It’s fun to just do something with my brother weekly.”