Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has joined up with an investment group to purchase a significant stake in a popular brand of theme parks.
The 35-year-old star and fiancee of pop icon Taylor Swift is part of a consortium of investors who purchased roughly nine percent of the shares of Six Flags, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Kelce, who describes himself as a theme-park ‘superfan’, joins Jana Partners – a New York-based hedge fund and activist investor – and other financiers for the purchase of $200million worth of shares on Tuesday.
‘I am a lifelong Six Flags fan and grew up going to these parks with my family and friends,’ Kelce said in a statement.
‘The chance to help make Six Flags special for the next generation is one I couldn’t pass up.’
Jana is hoping to improve the marketing and customer experience of the company that has been operating theme parks since 1961.
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has bought a stake in the Six Flags amusement park chain
The company had nine percent of its shares purchased by activist investor Jana Partners
Just last year, Six Flags completed a merger with Cedar Fair – a rival amusement park operator that owned the popular Cedar Point and Kings Island parks in Ohio among other properties.
The combined company now owns 42 properties across North America – with another expected to open in Saudi Arabia later this year.
Recently, according to the Journal, a combination of bad weather and declining visits have led to share prices dropping over 50 percent year-to-date as of mid-day Tuesday.
This is not the first time that Jana has recruited former athletes to draw attention to their investments.
In the past, the company enlisted Baseball Hall of Famer CC Sabathia and Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade serve as special advisors for a campaign with pet-food manufacturer Freshpet.
This is just the latest in a series of purchases and endeavors that Kelce has undertaken in addition to his laundry list of sponsorships.
He has his own health brand (Hilo Nutrition), clothing brand (Tru Kolors, which has partnered with American Eagle) and a car wash chain (Club Car Wash) among other investments. Kelce also owns a minor stake in the Alpine Formula One Team.
Last month, the star also went into business with quarterback Patrick Mahomes on a restaurant – the 1587 Prime Steakhouse in downtown Kansas City.
