In Philly, there is only one Kelce brother that matters and his name is Jason Kelce. 

To understand the Jason Kelce folklore, we must begin at his origin story. 

In 2018, Jason Kelce stole the hearts of Philly fans following the Eagle’s first Super Bowl win. What set Kelce apart from his other winning teammates at the time had little to do with his sports acumen. The Kelce legend began when the highest-paid NFL center graced the stage at the 2018 Super Bowl Parade dressed in sequined Philadelphia mummer regalia and gave an impassioned speech, likening the Eagles’ underdog status to Philly fans’ likeability.

From there, his star only rose with endorsement deals, including Campbell’s Soup (a classic Eagles endorsement deal), posing for the annual Sports Illustrated Body Issue in 2019 and creating a surprisingly successful charity Christmas album in 2022 with fellow Eagles’ offensive linemen Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Charts for best Compilation Albums. 

Needless to say, Jason Kelce already was a beloved football player and known champion of Philly before this year. However, as 2023 comes to a close, it is safe to say that his fame ascension over this particular year has reached, pun intended, “New Heights.” 

I came to understand this phenomenon as an outside observer. Although raised in the Philly area, I have lived in DC for the past 10 years. All of my family in the U.S. lives in or around Philadelphia and are practicing Eagles fans. Admittedly, I am a non-practicing Eagles fan and only watch when around family or major games. 

As 2023 began, and the Eagles were set to play the Kansas City Chiefs, the narrative off the field surrounded Jason Kelce and his brother, Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce (aka Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, but don’t want to jump ahead). Sports and pop culture media alike could not get enough of the Shakespearean brother battle storyline. Their mother Donna taking interviews and wearing a split jersey to honor her two sons only added to the fanfare. 

Despite Jason Kelce losing to his brother, and a devastating blow to Philadelphia fans, both Kelce brothers had raised their star status. Before the 2023 Super Bowl, the brothers started their “New Heights” podcast in 2022. Through the weekly show, together they were able to open their lives to fans while documenting the lead-up to the Super Bowl and then share their raw emotions in the aftermath when Kansas City won. 

This was my first real introduction to the fan devotion for Jason Kelce. I started to see video clips posted on friend’s and family’s Instagram stories from the “New Heights” podcast. Then I started to see shared Instagram clips of Jason Kelce’s two daughters cheering their dad on with his wife Kylie sourced from Kylie and Jason’s personal accounts.

On the podcast, Jason Kelce spoke candidly about how he met his wife, Kylie, on Tinder. Kylie on that episode spoke about how she thought Jason was a catfish. Jason also told listeners about how nervous he was that Kylie would be 58 weeks pregnant with their third daughter during Super Bowl LVII. 

By letting their audience learn about relatable and vulnerable moments, fans started to have a parasocial relationship with not just Jason Kelce, but his entire family. 

Then, in late September this year, the news broke that Travis Kelce was officially dating Taylor Swift. Overnight, Travis Kelce reached an international level of fame as the boyfriend of the most successful music artist of our time. In true Philly fashion, Jason Kelce stans began to cement themselves in the Jason Kelce fandom. 

My cousin began posting weekly her love for Jason Kelce, including the frequent shot of Jason Kelce and Eagles’ running back D’Andre Tiyon Swift on the field with captions like “My Kelce and Swift.” Other friends carried the same sentiment in their posts sharing photos of Travis Kelce and writing “Not my Kelce.”

While Philadelphia fans will make it clear that they don’t have anything against Travis Kelce, and even enjoy him on “New Heights,” they believe he does not hold a candle to Jason Kelce. They will often point out how much Jason Kelce has invested in Philadelphia compared to Travis Kelce’s investment in Kansas City. Jason Kelce’s family lives in the Philadelphia suburbs. Travis lives in Florida off-season. Jason married a Philly local. Travis obviously has not. Jason’s charity (Be)Philly Foundation supports Philly students. Travis’ charity Eighty-Seven & Running supports disadvantaged youth near his hometown in Ohio. 

In early November,  Jason Kelce was bestowed the title People’s Sexiest Man Alive alongside Patrick Dempsey, Pedro Pascal, and Lenny Kravitz. This was a milestone for Jason Kelce stans. Similar to the underdog status that Jason Kelce evoked in his 2018 Super Bowl Parade speech, winning the title instead of his brother – who often is referred to as a “hunk” in headlines – was validation. Their chosen brother won this round. My Instagram feed was flooded that day with shots and links to Jason Kelce’s article. 

When returning home for Thanksgiving, I entered my parents’ home to find my entire family watching Jason Kelce’s recent documentary Kelce on Amazon Prime Video. This was not their first time watching the film. I walked in as Kylie was getting an ultrasound when she was pregnant with her third child. I remarked that it was funny Kylie felt comfortable sharing this private moment for the documentary, being at the time she was recently quoted in an interview saying that unlike Taylor Swift fame is “not my cup of tea.”

This was absolutely the worst thing I could have said. My sister immediately went on the defense. She listed all the charming qualities of Kylie, including how she chooses to sit in the stands instead of a luxury box during games and her charity efforts. She ended with, “Don’t mess with Queen Kylie.” 

While I tried to backtrack and say there is nothing wrong with wanting fame, the damage was already done. 

I was sent multiple heartwarming clips of the Kelce family by my sister in the following weeks. I was sent an article about Kylie (now also referred to as Princess Ky) signing and modeling a replica of Princess Di’s iconic Eagles’ letterman jacket. The jacket was auctioned at $100,000 for the Eagles Autism Foundation. Another article was Jason and Kylie’s family holiday card which was featured in People and in partnership with the photo service Minted. 

I was particularly interested in these two articles because of their references to the British Royal Family. Only a month later did Prince William and Princess Kate similarly share their family holiday card for the media. 

As the year draws to an end and Jason Kelce just dropped the 2023 Christmas album A Philly Special Christmas Special (the Godmother of Soul Patti Labelle is featured!) for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, I can’t help but accept the anointment of Jason Kelce and his family to Philly royalty, and subsequently the head of Eagles religion. 

While normally not one for the monarchy, the Philly people have spoken. A group of people who are famously not easy to win over have unanimously made up their minds in favor of the Kelce family. 

Long live Queen Kylie! Long live King Jason! Go Birds!

Recommend If You Like is not owned or funded by a billionaire or even a millionaire. We do have a Patreon. If you can’t afford to become a patron, please sign up to our mailing list. It’s free and we’re asking here instead of a pop-up. Pop-ups are annoying.