As Travis and Jason Kelce continue to accumulate massive wealth, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has said what everyone is thinking: would it happen without Taylor Swift?
His comments come after it emerged on Thursday that the Kelce brothers’ partnership with Garage Beer is said to be worth an astonishing $200million after a round of funding – as per the Wall Street Journal.
The brothers partnered with the beer and invested in June 2024, a year where it posted revenue of $20m. Already, that is now expected to hit $60-70m in 2025 thanks to the presence of the famous NFL duo.
It led Portnoy, a shrewd investor himself who has said his own worth is around $250m, to say on X: ‘I feel like the Kelce’s keep getting stupid deals just so rich people can say they are friends with them and by extension Taylor Swift.’
It’s perhaps not the fairest assumption by Portnoy when it comes to Garage Beer, given the brothers are involved in marketing strategies at the company, as per WSJ.
But there can be no question that in the two years since Kansas City Chiefs star Kelce started dating Swift, his love life has made him a more popular – and in turn, profitable – name.
Dave Portnoy says the Kelce brothers would not be as wealthy without Taylor Swift
Portnoy, a Swift fan, made the claim after it emerged the Kelces ‘Garage Beer is worth $200m
The NFL brothers have unquestionably become more popular amid Travis dating the singer
His older brother Jason has definitely seen the good side of that too. Last year, they signed a new $100million deal to keep producing their New Heights podcast which surged in popularity after Kelce and Swift became an item.
It is fair to wonder if such a lucrative deal, which was struck with Wondry – a network belonging to Amazon – might have involved pressure on the brothers to get Swift to appear as one of their many high-profile guests, although that is not known for sure.
Chiefs star Kelce, a three-time Super Bowl winner, has multiple other endorsement deals, too, ranging from his energy drink agreement with Accelerator to a clothing partnership with American Eagle.
The 35-year-old is also expected to pursue an acting career once his time in football is over – he has already appeared in movies such as Happy Gilmore 2 and the television show Grotesquerie.
Jason, meanwhile, agreed a three-year deal with ESPN after retiring from the NFL in 2024, worth a reported $24m.
HIs wife Kylie has also launched her own podcast – Not Gonna Lie – and has also enjoyed a rise in fame sparked by the interest in the wider Kelce family off the back of Travis and Taylor.
Many expect Kelce to retire after the 2025 NFL season, where he is also entering the final year of his Chiefs contract worth around $14million a year. The Chiefs start that campaign on Friday in Brazil against the Los Angeles Chargers.
But with a wedding on the horizon and Hollywood waiting for Kelce whenever he is ready to offer more attention to his interest in acting, his popularity isn’t going to wane any time soon.
