Travis and Jason Kelce’s ‘New Height’s Podcast Scores Mega-Deal

NFL star brothers Travis and Jason Kelce are taking their services to the Wondery podcast studio. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Super Bowl-winning siblings have signed a significant new deal taking their two-year-old New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce podcast to the Amazon-owned podcast studio, which signed a distribution and exclusive ad-sales representation deal for the family talk show.

“We couldn’t be more excited to team up with Wondery for the next phase of New Heights,” the Kelce brothers told THR. “We love this show, and the fanbase that has grown with us over the last two seasons. Wondery understands the shared vision and will offer a wealth of experience and resources to take us to New Heights! We are going to create some groundbreaking moments together through this partnership. We are thrilled to start Season 3.”

While the specific terms of the deal were not announced, THR noted that a person close to the matter described it as being in the “nine figure” range and “very competitive.” The multi-year deal will give Wondery exclusive global distribution rights to all audio and video episode of the pod, as well as its back catalog and the rights to make international audio adaptations of the show.

“We’ve been watching the growth of the podcast, really since it was launched, and I have been building a relationship with Travis and Jason and getting to know them for a while now,” Wondery CEO Jen Sargent told THR. “Sports is a really exciting category for podcast listeners. It’s a strategic priority of Wondery’s and Amazon’s. So there were a lot of reasons to think about joining forces here on the New Heights podcast.” 

Sargent added that Wondery is looking into live domestic and international events and potentially creating localized content.

The brothers — older sib Jason retired from the NFL last year after 13 seasons as a center with the Philadelphia Eagles and tight end Travis is a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs — launched the podcast in 2022 with Wave Sports + Entertainment. The new deal will make the show available on all podcast services, as well as YouTube, with Wondery also offering ad-free listening to its Wondery+ subscribers.

Talking about their lives on the gridiron and off the field, the show drew a dedicated sports audience that exploded into a much wider fanbase when Travis started dating Taylor Swift last year. Since then, the Ambies-, Webbys- and Shorty-award-winning football talk on the show that usually ranks as one of the top sports podcasts on Apple and Spotify has been spiced up with some tidbits from Travis and Taylor’s romance.

Among the Traylor highlights over the past year were such scenes as Travis dancing to Swift’s “Shake It Off” during a live taping in April in Cincinnati — where both men attended the University of Cincinnati — and Travis gushing about Swift’s “insane” Eras Tour show at Gillette Stadium in December. Kelce also revealed the the moment the singer officially won over brother Jason during an episode earlier this year, in one of the many mentions of the pop superstar on the pod.

The Kelces have both been expanding their off-field activities lately, with Jason joining ESPN as an analyst and Travis signing on to host Amazon’s Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? and booking a slot on Ryan Murphy’s upcoming FX horror show Grotesquerie, as well as circling the action comedy Loose Cannons.

Their mega-deal comes amid new of a few other huge signings recently, including Wondery’s similar distribution and ad sales deal with actor Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert pod, which signed an estimated $80 million pact in July, as well as the just-announced $125 million deal Alex Cooper signed wit SiriusXM for her Call Her Daddy show.