The fabulous life of Travis Kelce: How the star football player and rumored Taylor Swift beau makes and spends his millions

At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, Kelce has been an impact player from early in his professional career. After a successful but somewhat tumultuous college career with the Cincinnati Bearcats, Kelce slipped to the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft, where the Chiefs were waiting with the 63rd overall pick.

He barely played in his rookie season thanks to a series of lower-body injuries, but once he consistently saw the field in 2014, Kelce was off to the races. He led Kansas City with 862 receiving yards on 67 receptions, and he added five touchdowns on the impressive season.

Kelce's star kept rising from there. In 2016, the blossoming tight end recorded his first season with 1000+ receiving yards; his 1,125-yard total was a league-high for players at his position that season.

But it was the introduction of Mahomes — a generational quarterback with a remarkable connection to Kelce — to the Chiefs that brought the Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native from great to indomitable. With Mahomes under center, Kelce has surpassed 100 receptions per season and twice led all NFL tight ends in that metric.

He's also led the league's TEs in receiving yards three of the last four seasons — including breaking the NFL single-season receiving record for tight ends with 1,416 yards in 2020. And in each of the past three years, Kelce has had more receiving touchdowns than any other player in the league at his position.

Altogether, the four-time first-team All-Pro selection has already written himself a resume that contends with the all-time great tight ends. He's the only player at the position to finish seven seasons with 1,000+ receiving yards, and he did so in consecutive years.

Kelce is one of four tight ends in NFL history with 10,000 or more receiving yards, and he's on pace to smash the other three players' totals by the time he walks away from the gridiron. But perhaps most notably, Kelce has won two Super Bowls and contributed significantly to the dynasty the franchise has built in Kansas City.

Like the majority of rookies in the NFL — aside from those drafted in the first round — Kelce began his professional football career with a relatively humble salary. He received a four-year, $3.12 million rookie contract with a $703,304 signing bonus.

But in 2016, after proving himself over his first few seasons with the Chiefs, Kelce signed a massive contract extension to stay in Kansas City. He earned $46,842,000 for five years — plus a $10 million signing bonus — to average nearly eight figures in annual salary.

And those numbers ballooned come 2020, when he agreed to a four-year contract worth $57,250,000, or $14,312,500 per year.

According to Spotrac, Kelce has earned just north of $77 million over his career with the Chiefs. And that doesn't even include the money he's made through investments, endorsements, and other business opportunities.

With remarkable abilities on the gridiron and a bright and goofy disposition, Kelce has been an attractive candidate for endorsements with a wide variety of companies. He's signed deals with Dick's Sporting Goods, LG, McDonald's, Nike, Old Spice, Papa John's, Walgreens, and more.

In all, Kelce is thought to have made $5 million per year from these sponsors, according to estimates from Profluence's Andrew Petcash.

After blowing through the vast majority of his paychecks from the Chiefs his rookie year, per Petcash, Kelce buckled down and became more serious about how he handled his money. In addition to saving more and building a growing endorsement portfolio, he began making shrewd investments in several different businesses.

Following the advice of famed business magnate Warren Buffett, Kelce has bought into what he knows. Some of his investments include Cholula, a hot sauce brand; Hydrow, a rowing machine company; INDOCHINO, a men's fashion house; RealTruck, a truck accessory company; and ThePlayersTV, an athlete-owned media network.

Some of those moves have paid off in major ways; when McCormick bought Cholula for a whopping $800 million, for example, Kelce reportedly earned a return worth four times his original investment.

But the tight end didn't stop there; he dove into business ownership, too. A fashion enthusiast, Kelce started his own clothing brand called Tru Kolors. He founded Hilo, a nutrition brand that sells gummies promising various health benefits.

Additionally, Kelce co-owns Club Car Wash and founded a music festival called "Kelce Jam." And he and his older brother, Jason, co-host the incredibly popular New Heights podcast, which brings in millions in annual revenue.

As of fall 2023, Kelce's net worth had reportedly grown to more than $30 million.

First of all, Kelce attended the Era's Tour in July, and we all know tickets for one of Swift's ridiculously in-demand concerts cost a pretty penny. He revealed on the New Heights podcast — which he hosts alongside his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce — that he'd attempted to give Swift a friendship bracelet in keeping with the tradition among her concertgoers but was shut down.

"I was disappointed that she doesn't talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings," Kelce said. "So I was a little butt-hurt I didn't get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her."

"She doesn't meet anybody or at least she didn't want to meet me, so I took it personal," he added.

But beyond concert tickets, the tight end seemingly spends some of his millions on an opulent lifestyle fit for an NFL superstar. Kelce's really into fashion, and he regularly wears designer clothes, expensive jewelry, rare collectors' sneakers, and luxury accessories.

He also likes cars, and owns more than a garage's worth of them. In addition to a relatively GMC Terrain, Kelce reportedly has an Aston Martin Vanquish, a Mercedes-AMG G 63, a custom Land Rover, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, and a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS convertible.

Kelce owns a five-bedroom, nine-bathroom home in the suburbs of Kansas City, while he sometimes lives downtown in one of the city's high-rise buildings. He also co-owns a small condo in Orlando, Florida, with his brother and his parents.

Kelce himself seemingly confirmed that he was in contact with the "Cruel Summer" singer in mid-September, when he told ESPN's Pat McAfee that he "threw the ball in her court" and invited Swift to one of his upcoming games at the Chiefs' home arena, Arrowhead Stadium.

"I told her, 'I've seen you rock the stage at Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage at Arrowhead and see which one's a little more lit,'" Kelce said. "So we'll see what happens in the near future."

Swift took the football world by storm when she showed up for Sunday's game between the Chiefs and the Chicago Bears at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. She was spotted standing right beside Kelce's mother, Donna Kelce, in a suite belonging to her younger son. The duo chatted, laughed, and cheered on the Chiefs side-by-side.

It didn't take Kelce long to spot Swift from the sidelines. And once he did, he couldn't help but grin and get a twinkle in his eye.

When Kelce hauled in a touchdown pass from superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the third quarter of the contest, it was no surprise that Swift was among those who rose to their feet and cheered.

What was a surprise, though, was Swift's colorful exclamation. After chest-bumping with another spectator in the box, the "Shake It Off" singer appeared to shout "Let's fucking go!" as Mama Kelce smiled and applauded directly to her right.

After the game, the duo walked out of the stadium side-by-side, then drove off using his Chavelle as a "Getaway Car." They reportedly ate dinner at a Kansas City restaurant Kelce had rented out for friends and family.

Kelce founded his own charity — Eighty-Seven & Running — in 2015 with a goal of helping underprivileged youth stay motivated to achieve great things in life "through fundraising, athletic programs, mentoring, and outreach initiatives," according to the organization's website.

According to Julianna Johnston Senturia — the Executive Director of Heights Schools Foundation, a local organization connecting alumni of Kelce's hometown with community leaders — the Chiefs superstar and his philanthropy helped provide thousands of young students with support, enrichment activities, and tutoring during the remote learning days of the pandemic.

And Mary Esselman, the president and CEO of a Kansas City-based children's organization called Operation Breakthrough, said Kelce is more than "just an NFL star to our children."

"He has spent time with them, learning their names, showing them that they matter to him," Esselman said. "They don't realize that he was the first person to call and offer aid to our families back in March when COVID-19 hit. They just know that he has let them see him as a real person who cares about them."

"To me, THAT is the biggest gift Travis has given our children and, I think, it sets him apart," she added.