Insiders are predicting Travis Kelce will make a $20 million career move (Getty Images)
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 36, signed a one-year, $12 million deal this offseason after flirting with retirement, and while he has delivered on the field, the bigger question isn’t about football anymore. ESPN host and Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman believes he knows exactly where Kelce is headed once the cleats come off, and it involves a broadcasting payday that could reach $20 million a year. Aikman made his prediction during an appearance on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast, drawing from a one-on-one conversation with Kelce ahead of the Chiefs’ Week 1 win over the Denver Broncos. After retiring from the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024, Jason signed a three-year, $24 million deal with ESPN, even while New Heights was already thriving.
“I can’t imagine that he won’t.
“It sounds like he wants to do television,” Aikman said. Aikman said. “The sky’s the limit for him,” he said.
Travis Kelce is two games into what could be his final NFL season, and already the conversation is shifting. His read on the situation was direct. And I think there’s going to be a line-up of suitors for his talents, and then it’s just a matter of what exactly does he want that to look like. ” Aikman didn’t stop there. He flagged the real question that every network executive will eventually face: does Travis Kelce want to call games from the booth, anchor a studio show, or carve out a more flexible arrangement that lets him travel with wife Taylor Swift? “Does he maybe want to have a limited schedule where he can still travel and watch his wife perform from time to time? Jason Kelce’s path offers a useful reference point. The podcast didn’t block the TV move. It may have made it more attractive. Travis Kelce’s situation mirrors that trajectory, except his celebrity profile is exponentially larger, his marriage to Swift has turned him into a household name well outside of NFL circles, and the networks know it. Aikman, who attended the Kelce-Swift wedding at Madison Square Garden in July, summed it up plainly.