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By Zach Schönbrun
In the only recent year in which Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs failed to make it to the Super Bowl, the NFL star traveled to Los Angeles in early February with his executives, Andre and Aaron Eanes, marveling at posters depicting Dwayne Johnson, the actor and artist better known as The Rock.
“Man, I don’t think I’ll ever be as famous as the Rock,” Mr. Kelce said.
His co-managers looked at each other. “We’re like, Yes, you can,” André Eanes said.
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The two brothers knew from Mr. Kelce at the University of Cincinnati that the 6-foot-5 athletic star with the body of a Marvel character, blue eyes and affable charm had crossover potential.
But let’s be honest. No one imagined this.
It’s a year that even the Rock can envy. Kelce, a tight end, won the Super Bowl (his second) in February. In March, he hosted “Saturday Night Live. ” She has starred in seven national television commercials. The podcast he hosts alongside his brother Jason is among the most popular on Spotify. He introduced a clothing line with his team.
And he’s dating the world’s most famous pop singer. Maybe you’ve heard it.
The sudden conquest of the spirit of the age through M. Kelce (his bet on the card, so to speak) surprised even the most die-hard football fans. through the 34-year-old Eos brothers, which blossomed at exactly the right time.
The Chiefs have become football’s ultimate unstoppable force in recent years, and along the way, M. Kelce’s other team has expanded to include an artistic strategist, a network outreach coordinator, a publicist based in Los Angeles, a personal chef and trainer. He has four football agents, led by Mike Simon at VMG. In the spring, he also became a client at Creative Artists Agency to feed his growing acting itch.
The Eanes brothers coordinate it all, managing the surging flow of incoming traffic for a piece of Kelce Inc. Film scripts have been shared among the team. Game shows are a consideration. Maybe fewer commercials.
“People say, ‘Man, it’s been a crazy year,'” Aaron Eranes said. “When I say, ‘Actually, it’s not that crazy,’ people look at me funny. That’s because it’s simple when we have a plan. We are executing this plan.
Before you run to YouTube and TikTok to research conspiracy theories, no, the plan did not include Taylor Swift.
Mr. Kelce’s managers have a window of time between the end of the Super Bowl in February and the start of educational camp in July, in which their plan for the Kelce logo will have to be developed. Once the season begins, Mr. Kelce manifests in his possession what he wants.
But even if Kelce’s move to a more classic form of celebrity had been planned before she met Swift, there’s no doubt that the doubling of her prospects (from a majority of men between the ages of 18 and 49 to a much larger organization strongly supported through female enthusiasts of all ages than Ms. Swift, It has replaced the calculation of where the plan will go from now on.
“Travis’ notoriety is much greater and he has an even wider audience,” said Richard Lovett, co-chair of the CAA. “It accelerated what was probably inevitable in terms of awareness and appeal. “
Andre Eanes, who manages Kelce’s portfolio of 28 investments, met his consumer through Kelce’s schoolmate, D. J. Mr. Woods, a friend from Mr. Eanes’ formative years, grew up near Cleveland. They became close when Mr. Eanes controlled the business while he was still in school, booking spots and DJing in Cincinnati. Mr. Eanes has become Mr. Kelce’s go-to man for a VIP party. approve.
“He’s been the life of the party,” Mr. Eanes said of Mr. Kelce. “Everyone wanted to pass out with Travis. “
At the same time, Aaron Eanes is studying sports control and entrepreneurship at Bowling Green State University in northern Ohio. He sought to help athletes expand their careers. But he had no interest in becoming a classic sports agent.
“Agents are contractual advisers,” Mr. Eanes. ” Instead, I have the idea of a musical style and the creation of a company in which there is coordination with all of their external service providers. “
Mr. Eanes hadn’t even graduated when he started providing school football players with the facilities of a coach in addition to a classic agent. It was a proposal at the time for top players, whose main goal was to get that first professional contract. But Mr. Kelce seemed to sense the bigger picture his friends were drawing. He becomes A’s second customer.
“It was unusual,” said Simon, Simon. Kelce’s agent. I think his procedural idea at the time was, “Let’s all do this together, and we’ll figure it out as we go. “
Mr. Kelce’s first glint of mainstream publicity came in a 2015 feature in Complex magazine, in which he stood on a pool table wearing a burgundy velour Versace jumpsuit and Gucci sunglasses. A short time later, Aaron Eanes got a call from a producer from E! about a reality dating show. “I was like, Absolutely not!” Mr. Eanes said.
The brothers finally relented, thinking that a television screen might open more doors. After “Catching Kelce”, which lasted 8 episodes and never discovered M. Kelce, they agreed that Truth TV was one and that. Instead, Mr. Kelce, a lifelong comedy fan, gave his co-directors a noble purpose to pursue: He wanted to be in “S. N. L. “
Aaron Eanes reminded the show’s producers of the 2020 season, but his interest in others seemed lukewarm at best. That changed in October 2021 after Mr. Kelce fell into an “SNL after party before a game in Philadelphia” and I went to work, chatting (and impressing) Lorne Michaels.
The day after the Chiefs beat the Eagles in the Super Bowl last February, Aaron Eanes’ phone rang at 9 a. m.
“I don’t think he’s slept yet,” Mr. Eanes told the booking agent.
After leveling up at Rockefeller Center’s Studio 8H on March 4, less than a month after winning the Super Bowl, Kelce swallowed the show’s opening monologue. He had fulfilled a dream from his formative years and had taken his family with him: his brother, Jason, the center of the Eagles; and his parents, Ed and Donna, whom the Eanes siblings help manage for free.
After “S. N. L. ,” the Eanes brothers began interviewing Hollywood agencies that had closer ties to the entertainment industry.
“We’re just two guys in Ohio,” joked Aaron Eanes.
Both Lovett and Tom Young, CAA’s co-head of sports media, said Kelce had a laid-back, mysterious air and a trainable nature that made manufacturers have to work with him. “The decision-makers and the other people who are meant to be visionaries about the next future movie star, those who other people had already exploited Travis even when ‘Saturday Night Live’ came out, “Mr. Lovett. “And probably sooner. “
But he didn’t rush anything, said Aaron Eanes. That’s not Mr. Kelce’s style. And Eanes had already laid the groundwork for its consumer to ascend to the A list. Throughout 2022, Eanes had targeted endorsement deals with corporations that weren’t classic NFL players. partners, such as selling vaccines for Pfizer, for example, or a new debit card from Experian. The goal was to build Mr. Kelce’s resume as an independent pitcher, rather than another tradeable player in an ad for one of the NFL’s partners, capitalizing on the foundation built through the league.
Danielle Salzedo, an experienced logo strategist who joined M. ‘s leadership team, joined the company’s executive team. Kelce, after 14 years at Viacom, said he learned the marketing classes working with musical artists such as Harry Connick Jr. who is constantly in a position to reinvent himself to succeed in new audiences.
“That ability to continue to evolve what your image is and stay current but still remain elevated, from someone who is already a global star,” Ms. Salzedo said, “is something that I think Travis has the ability to do.”
Kelce’s entourage insists that his time as a viral celebrity hasn’t replaced him. His personal chef, Kumar Ferguson, has been friends with Kelce since they played recreational basketball together in fourth grade. He brings home-cooked food (usually wild rice, chicken, and vegetables) to the Chiefs’ educational facility every day so he and Mr. Kelce can have lunch together.
Despite the growing number of distractions, Kelce’s longtime coach, Alex Skacel, said the star’s resolve had never been stronger.
Mr. Skacel likes to tell the story of a stop at Paris Fashion Week a few years ago, when he and Mr. Kelce went for a night run in the city because Mr. Kelce was looking into studios after a full day of sitting by the track. “It’s and we’re racing on the bridges that cross the river,” Mr. Skacel said. “No matter where you are, you find time to do what you need. “
While 2023 was a near-perfect year for Kelce, Aaron Eanes said the increased attention has got his team thinking about a potential area of concern: oversaturation. Is there too much Kelce on TV and in the news, and is it possible that only insensitive enthusiasts watch it?The plan for the coming year revolves around one word: healing. Fewer offers. Quality over quantity. Authenticity first and foremost.
After a midweek layover in New York to speak at a conference on sports affairs, the Eanes brothers were rushing to take flights to Ohio to spend a few days with their family circle before returning to Kansas City, where the Chiefs were facing the Buffalo Bills in a game. Clash of two high-profile teams.
The game was decided in the final moments by a penalty that reversed what would likely have become a signature play in Mr. Kelce’s career.
Moving forward between three, Mr. Kelce slipped a pass into the middle of the field. Then, as he was about to be tackled, he showed off the arm he’d used as the school’s best quarterback, sending the best pass to an open teammate. who ran for what appeared to be a winning score. The only challenge was that the teammate had gone out of alignment before the play, which nullified the touchdown.
The Chiefs then lost the game, once again, Mr. Kelce has figured out a path to himself in the midst of it all.
“We’ve found out that Travis is world famous,” Anenes said. We didn’t know how it would happen, or when it would happen, or what would help move things forward. But it’s an idea that’s in our hands. “
Audio produced through Tally Abecassis.
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