GLENDALE, Ariz. – It’s being dubbed the ‘Kelce Bowl.’ For the first time ever, two siblings will compete as players in the National Football League’s title game.
When the Philadelphia Eagles play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona, one Kelce will get his second Lombardi Trophy. The only question is if it will be the Eagles’ Jason Kelce or the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce.
In a June 2022 radio appearance with 94 WIP’s Angelo Cataldi, from Paddy’s Green outside O’Donnell’s Pour House, in Sea Isle City, the Kelce brothers compared notes from their previous Super Bowl highs.
What they probably didn’t predict then is that they would be back together in mid-February, on opposite sidelines, competing on American sports’ biggest stage.
The brothers, from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, have each become household names, not only for their talent on the field – each will have a good case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame – but also for their colorful and relatable personalities off the field.
Jason Kelce, wearing a Mummers costume, standing at a podium on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, cemented his legacy as an all-time Philadelphia sports legend after the team’s first ever Super Bowl victory in February 2018. Kelce unleashed a passion-filled, profanity-laced tirade against the doubters and haters the team overcame enroute to bringing the city its first Super Bowl.
However, it isn’t just Kelce’s perceptive assessment of the Philadelphia sports fans’ plight that has endeared him to so many in the city. It’s also that the Eagles’ center has made himself one of them. That fact is on display every summer at the Jersey Shore.
Kelce’s guest bartending gigs at Sea Isle’s Ocean Drive have drawn masses of fans to the shore bar in their Midnight and Kelly green to support charity, but on a night Kelce, 35, is not pouring beers and mixing drinks, it’s not uncommon to see him out imbibing at the bars in Sea Isle, Avalon or Strathmere, mixing it up with the average joes, chugging beers and having fun.
He is so well known for wearing his green Ocean Drive shirt, his offensive line teammate Lane Johnson wore the bar’s shirt when he dressed up as Kelce for Halloween. Travis Kelce, 33, wore one for the siblings’ radio appearance at Paddy’s Green.
The brothers also co-host “New Heights,” currently Apple’s number-one-rated sports podcast. Their two guests were their parents, Donna and Ed, Feb. 6.
The two parents, who have divorced, each spoke separately about what the game will be like to watch with two children playing on either side of the ball. In some ways, they said the pressure is off, but they also know the whole family won’t leave the desert happy.
Asked by his boys who he will be rooting for, Ed Kelce replied “Kelce,” but said after the game, he will probably first go looking for the loser.
“Somebody’s going to feel pretty crummy, and I want to be with them initially,” he said.
Donna Kelce said she is going to be wearing her custom half Chiefs’ Kelce, half Eagles’ Kelce jersey to the game. As of Feb. 6, over 155,000 people had signed a petition on Change.org for the Super Bowl mom to flip the coin before the game.
However, it looks like it won’t happen. Donna Kelce said in a Facebook post that she was touched by the petition, but excitedly announced the coin toss will honor the late Pat Tillman instead.
Tillman, a former Arizona State and later Arizona Cardinals football player, who walked away from the NFL to join the Army in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, died in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan in 2004.
The Tillman foundation will be represented by four Tillman scholars as honorary coin toss captains, according to the foundation.
What to Know Before Super Bowl LVII
The Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs will battle it out in the desert for the Lombardi Trophy. For second-year Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, it’s his first trip to the big game as head coach. The Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2018 under Doug Pederson.
For Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid, this is his fourth career Super Bowl appearance as a head coach. Reid won with the Chiefs in 2020 but lost in a return trip the following year. Reid also led the Eagles for 14 years and made one trip to the Super Bowl with the Birds, losing to the Patriots in 2005.
When: 6:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 12
Where: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona. Broadcast on FOX.
Halftime Show: Rihanna
30-second Commercial Price: $7 million
Gambling: Line: Eagles -1.5; Over/Under: 50.5 points
Referee: Carl Cheffers
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