Chiefs News: Travis Kelce, Jason Kelce discuss their London trip

Tony Nguyen | Kansas City Chiefs
June 29, 2024

The Kansas City Chiefs’ superstar tight end Travis Kelce and his older brother — former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce — host a weekly podcast called “New Heights.” The title is an homage to the Cleveland Heights neighborhood in which they grew up.

In this episode: With OTAs behind him, Travis went back on the road to support his girlfriend Taylor Swift as she continued her “Eras Tour” in the United Kingdom. During one of the concerts, Travis made a surprise appearance, danced in one of her skits and met some people named Windsor. Travis also recently attended Tight End University. All of it was up for discussion with Jason.

“New Heights” with Jason & Travis Kelce | Jukes Original Presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment | You can also listen to the show on Spotify.


1. Playing golf with “The Great One”

Before heading to London, Travis met up with professional golfer Dustin Johnson and his wife to play a round of golf.

This was awesome for Travis, because he and Jason grew up playing hockey. Johnson’s wife is Paulina Gretzky — the daughter of legendary hockey star Wayne Gretzky. Luckily for Travis, the elder Gretzky was with his daughter and son-in-law.

“I was starstruck,” admitted Travis of the time he spent with the famous family. “I couldn’t really even ask him anything. He was awesome. The entire Gretzky family was awesome.”

Considering the high profile that Travis keeps, it takes a lot to get him tongue-tied. Still, we can all relate. When you meet somebody you idolized as a child, it hits differently. All the the feelings you had as a kid come rushing back — and in that moment, you’re young again.

2. Tight End University

Each offseason, Travis, San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle and former NFL tight end Greg Olsen gather the league’s tight ends together for a symposium called “Tight End University.”

The idea was for tight ends to grow by learning from each other. But the event has become far more than that.

“It’s unbelievable how far we’ve come,” marveled Travis. “I think we’ve made somewhere near a million dollars for charity through sponsorships — and that’s like a side deal. Everybody is going there to get better and make the tight end position better.”

Each year, Travis gives a speech during one of the evening events — but this time, he was asked not to talk too much.

“They reduced mine to 30 minutes,” he said. “I went up there and talked about painting a picture. I always like to do analogies.”

He also spoke of another analogy he likes: running routes is like playing the piano.

“You have one hand that’s playing the rhythm,” he explained. “That’s the quarterback drop and progression. [You] stay within the rhythm of the song… [but] the melody is your own creation — and how you’re running your routes… You can’t f*ck up the song; you can’t have a melody that doesn’t mesh well with the route concept.”

3. Meeting Prince William

The Kelce boys have finally arrived.

Sure… dating Taylor Swift is a huge deal for Travis. Having one of the biggest podcasts in the world is awesome. But meeting royalty affirms you in the stratosphere.

That’s exactly what happened. While they were at the “Eras Tour” concert in London, they met Prince William.

Both brothers seemed to agree that despite his title, the Duke of Cambridge was down to earth — a nice guy.

“Dude, he was the coolest motherf*cker,” exclaimed Travis, creating what might be a compliment rarely heard by a member of the Windsor family.

Not bad for a couple of blue-collar boys from Cleveland Heights, right?

“I didn’t know if I was supposed to bow or curtsy,” recalled Travis, “or just be an American idiot and shake his hand.”

Luckily for the Kelce brothers, bowing wasn’t necessary because the concert wasn’t an official royal event.