Travis Kelce's $12M Deal Is His Smallest Paycheck Now

$12 million. That’s what Travis Kelce just signed up to earn in 2026, re-upping with the Kansas City Chiefs for a 14th NFL season. It is, by a wide margin, the smallest check he’s cashing this year.

Kelce spent the weeks after Kansas City’s 2025 season flirting publicly with retirement. He came back anyway — but the number that mattered more to his bank account wasn’t the one the Chiefs offered him. It’s the one attached to a podcast, a beer brand, and a steakhouse he built on the side.

The Decision to Keep Playing

Kelce’s old deal — a four-year extension signed in 2020 — expired after the 2025 season, the same year the Chiefs missed the playoffs and Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL in Week 15. Kelce told reporters after Kansas City’s Week 18 loss that a retirement call would “probably take some time.” Head coach Andy Reid, asked about it weeks later, kept it simple: “As long as there’s communication, I’m good. That means people want to move forward.”

Nearly two months after the season ended, Kelce made his call: back for a 14th season, on a one-year contract worth $12 million, with a chance to reach $15 million through incentives, according to NFL.com. It’s a real number for one season of football. It’s also smaller than every other check on this list.

The Podcast That Out-Earns the Contract

In August 2024, Travis and his brother Jason — the retired Philadelphia Eagles center — signed a three-year deal worth more than $100 million to bring their “New Heights” podcast to Amazon’s Wondery, covering global distribution, advertising and merchandise rights. “We couldn’t be more excited to team up with Wondery for the next phase of ‘New Heights,’” the brothers said jointly. Wondery CEO Jen Sargent put the show’s appeal plainly: “‘New Heights’ on the surface is a sports podcast… but it’s become a cultural phenomenon.” It’s a joint deal split between two brothers and their production company, not a solo Travis Kelce payday — but it still dwarfs what either of them makes playing or coaching football at this point in their careers.

Garage Beer, Now a $200 Million Company

Travis and Jason became co-owners, investors and operators of Garage Beer, a light-beer brand, in June 2024. “It comes down to quality for me… being an owner of Garage Beer and heavily involved in making the best light beer is exciting, man!” Travis said at the time. Jason was blunter: “We are light beer drinkers and Garage is the best light beer.”

The bet paid off fast. In September 2025, private-equity firm Durational Capital Management took a stake in the company, pushing its valuation to roughly $200 million, according to The Drinks Business and Drinks Intel. CEO Andy Sauer told trade press the brand is on track for $60–70 million in revenue in 2025, up from under $20 million the year before, with sales volume up more than 400% over the past twelve months. Two beer-industry veterans — former Constellation Brands executive Bill Hackett and former Pabst Blue Ribbon chief growth officer Rich Pascucci — joined the board as part of the deal.

Kelce doesn’t own all of that $200 million; he’s one owner among several, alongside Jason, Sauer, and now Durational. But it’s still a company worth roughly 13 times his new NFL salary, built in a little over a year.

1587 Prime, With the Guy Who Throws Him the Ball

Kelce’s third active venture sits in downtown Kansas City: 1587 Prime, a steakhouse he co-owns with quarterback Patrick Mahomes in partnership with hospitality group Noble 33. The name combines their jersey numbers — Mahomes’ 15, Kelce’s 87. “Travis and I have become frequent visitors of Noble 33 restaurants in other cities, so it only made sense to bring something special to our own community in Kansas City,” Mahomes said when the project was announced. It opened September 17, 2025 — deliberately timed to Mahomes’ 30th birthday — inside the Loews Kansas City Hotel, a 10,000-square-foot, two-floor space with multiple private dining rooms and what’s reportedly one of the largest wine collections in Missouri.

What He’s Actually Worth

Net worth figures for active athletes vary wildly across the internet, and Kelce’s case is no different — this site cites only Celebrity Net Worth’s estimate, $90 million as of a July 29, 2026 update, treating it as one outlet’s rough figure rather than an audited fact. A more documented number: Spotrac puts his career NFL salary earnings at $111,194,254 through the deal that just expired, a figure built from actual contract filings rather than a guess. Add his new $12 million (or $15 million) 2026 salary, and his on-field career earnings alone cross $123 million — before a dollar of podcast, beer, or restaurant money is counted.

Kelce’s public profile has only grown since his August 2025 engagement to Taylor Swift, and the brands betting on him clearly aren’t worried it’s a liability.

The Bottom Line

A $12 million NFL contract would be the headline of most athletes’ year. For Kelce, it’s the smallest line in a financial picture that includes a nine-figure podcast deal, a stake in a beer brand now valued at $200 million, and a steakhouse he opened with his quarterback. He came back to football for a 14th season. He didn’t need to — the money had already moved on without him.

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