Travis and Jason Kelce are on opposing sides for the Chiefs and Eagles in the 2023 Super Bowl, and their father understands their competitive nature.
In a region where everyone is decked out in Philadelphia Eagles gear, especially with the team headed to the Super Bowl for the second time in six seasons, Ed Kelce is easy to spot.
He is a tall, sturdy man with broad shoulders and meaty hands, and even at 71 has a thick head of hair that’s parted down the middle and more salt than pepper.
What’s different about Kelce is conflicting attire. Under his requisite green Eagles windbreaker is a red Kansas City Chiefs T-shirt. How nervy — or maybe just absentminded — to rep the Chiefs in this Philadelphia suburb. The Eagles will face Kansas City in Super Bowl LVII.
Only Kelce isn’t confused. Just a proud dad.
His son, Jason Kelce, is the All-Pro center for the Eagles. His younger son, Travis Kelce, is the All-Pro tight end for the Chiefs.
On Feb. 12, the Kelce boys will make history as the first brothers to play against each other on football’s biggest stage. They each have one Super Bowl ring already.
“Cool scenario to be in, you know?” Travis Kelce said after the AFC championship game win over Cincinnati. “My mom can’t lose.”
Well … for the Kelce parents, it’s wonderful and torturous all at once.
“I’ll be screaming the whole time,” Donna Kelce said in an interview with Fox 8 in Cleveland, where the boys were raised. “No matter who’s out there, I’ll be screaming.”
The Kelce parents have done well with the dilemma so far. Although they were divorced a decade ago — she lives in Orlando, Fla., and he lives outside of Philadelphia — they have worked out a system to be in attendance for their sons’ games.
“We each try to be at one of the games,” Ed Kelce said. “Divide and conquer.”
At the Super Bowl, one parent will be staying at Kansas City’s team hotel, and the other at Philadelphia’s.
The parents didn’t coordinate as well in the playoffs, so they were both in Kansas City for the AFC divisional round, and both in Philadelphia for the NFC championship game. However, that allowed them to watch Kansas City play Cincinnati in the AFC title game, at a sports bar near Lincoln Financial Field, while sitting with Jason, who had just finished his game against San Francisco.
A crowd gathered at Chickie’s & Pete’s to watch the Kelce trio root on Kansas City. Donna Kelce wore a jersey that was half-Eagles, half-Chiefs. The burly, bearded Jason wore a Chiefs T-shirt, which he dramatically ripped off at game’s end. He could only stomach being a KC fan for so long.
In Philadelphia — and Kansas City for that matter — brotherly love is paramount.
