Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce have done the impossible—made a profit on their podcast, New Heights With Jason and Travis Kelce. The Kelce brothers have signed a three-year deal worth more than $100 million with Amazon's Wondery.
According to Variety, the deal kicks in on August 28th and gives Wondery global distribution rights for all existing and future audio and video episodes of the podcast. Wondery now has "exclusive rights to monetize and distribute audio and video podcast episodes" as well as "create international audio adaptations."
That last part sure sounds like AI will be involved, but who knows. Maybe Wondery has podcast translators around the world set up to sell "garagenbier" and "cerveza de garaje." Considering how fast the Kelce empire is growing in America, it doesn't seem completely out of the realm of possibilities.
The "at least" $33.3 million per year the brothers will be splitting is a huge chunk of change, even for professional football players.
The most Jason Kelce, a six-time All-Pro and maybe the greatest center ever, made in a season during his career was $14.25 million.
Travis Kelce's latest contract extension, signed in April, was worth $34.25 million and made him the highest paid tight end in football.
Considering they each played a decade of football at its highest level and won consistently, the fact that they're making as much, if not more, to talk into a microphone a few times a week sets a dangerous precendent. Combine that with the fact that Travis Kelce didn't start dating the most famous woman in the world until he was co-hosting New Heights and it's unclear why any young person would rather play football than podcast.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jason and Travis Kelce Just Got a Nine-Figure Podcast Deal with Amazon.
