Around here, it turns out, having a name and a face like Travis Kelce really can open doors.
There is a hotel on campus of the University of Cincinnati named ‘Graduate’ where, on arrival, every guest is given a small history lesson: here, the bedrooms are unlocked with a copy of someone’s student ID. Not just any pupil, though. This school’s favorite sons. Such as former NBA star Oscar Robertson. Such as Jason and Travis Kelce.
By Thursday lunchtime, staff were already braced for a few visitors to take their key cards home. By Thursday night in Cincinnati, some of those student IDs had become even more treasured.
This University was a significant staging post on the Kelce brothers’ journey from Cleveland Heights to New Heights. They played together on the Bearcats en route to the Super Bowl.
But neither Jason nor Travis ever attended graduation – until Thursday night, that is, when they returned home and proceeded to finish what they started more than a decade ago.
Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce returned to the University of Cincinnati on Thursday night
The two brothers hosted a chaotic evening which was part-gameshow and part-podcast
The room keys at the Graduate hotel on campus are student IDs of former pupils such as Travis
Inside Fifth Third arena, a short walk from the Graduate hotel, the brothers were ambushed as they prepared to say goodbye.
Before long, they had slipped into their gowns and collected their diplomas. All those years ago, football got in the way of commencement. Nothing stopped them from graduating this time: not Jason’s red hot-pants. Not Travis’ insistence on chugging his beer.
‘To all my fellow students… before we make this thing official, I thought I’d give you guys some advice,” Travis said before breaking into song. ‘You gotta fight. For your right. To PAAAAARRRTTY!’
They had first emerged hours earlier, amid fire and smoke and deafening screams. They had soon sent two students swimming in tubs of chili. They ended the evening flanked by their parents and the school president.
It was a surreal, emotional end to a wild night – part podcast, part gameshow, part marathon, part cringe and calamity. The brothers put on a spelling bee and a rodeo. They chatted with Joe Burrow and Desmond Ridder. What was billed as the first live show of their weekly chin-wag, New Heights, turned into nearly four hours of bedlam.
It was probably fortunate that she didn’t turn up. Local police had prepared for the possible arrival of Taylor Swift. In the end, they need not have worried – she didn’t show.
At the end of a long, chaotic evening, the two brothers finally graduated from the college
Both Travis and Jason made incredible entrances into the arena before Thursday’s show
Jason is presented with his diploma in front of a sold-out crowd at the University of Cincinnati
Thousands of Swifties and students and 92 per centers did, though. Tickets started at $100 and soon sold out. VIP tickets were going for $1,000.
At the Graduate, a line had begun to form and excitement had started to swell by early afternoon. No matter that Cincinnati flooded recently or that thunderstorms gave visitors a bumpy ride into town. Or that campus was drenched in the hours before doors opened.
One couple had driven four hours from Chicago; a pair of middle-aged women had travelled from North Carolina armed with beers and signs and New Heights t-shirts. One poor man was only in town for a conference. ‘Are you here for these Kelce brothers, too?’ hotel staff asked him. He wasn’t but he was about the only one.
Come 5pm, when the arena opened, some people had been waiting in the rain for hours. A line snaked around campus as students edged past dorms and classrooms until they reached their seats. The Kelce brothers were among them once.
This is where their journey to the big time gathered pace but it was also where their story might have ended. Travis was briefly kicked off the team – and lost his scholarship – after testing positive for marijuana. His future lay in tatters until older brother Jason helped steer him back on track.
More than a decade on, it was the elements that nearly derailed their best-laid plans. Until Wednesday afternoon, this show slated to take place at Nippert Stadium – the football field where these brothers were minted – only for the weather to force a late rethink.
Before hosting their podcast, the Kelce brothers put on the inaugural Great ‘Lombaby’ Games
Swifties, students and 92 per cent-ers gathered inside Fifth Third arena on Thursday night
Thousands were instead diverted inside. On arrival, they were handed a whistle, beads and a pompom. Around an hour before lift-off, Momma Kelce was handing out free sandwiches from Subway. Other souvenirs were available to buy – a New Heights hoodie, for instance, was on sale for $72.
Inside the arena, Swift blared over the speakers shortly before her boyfriend took center stage. Together, Travis and Jason Kelce have built an award-winning podcast. Their gameshow, however, still needs a bit of work.
The inaugural Great ‘Lombaby’ Games pitted 10 student-athletes against 10 students. ‘The jocks vs. the nerds’ as the brothers labelled it. Over more than an hour and a half, they took on half a dozen challenges – testing their spelling, their balance, their ability to down a shot of mayo. Oh, and their ability to put a moustache on Andy Reid while blindfolded.
The crowd enjoyed it – despite the odd technical glitch. Despite the brothers’ oft-clunky delivery. Despite disaster lingering just around the corner – during one challenge, two students began to retch as they raced to eat a chili dog.
Jason Kelce swapped jeans for some eye-catching red shorts for the podcast later in the night
Eventually chaos gave way for the main event: New Heights Live. After eyes in the arena had adjusted to Jason’s short shorts, the brothers brought out some company: former UC quarterback Ridder – now with the Arizona Cardinals – and Bengals OT Orlando Brown Jr shared some tales. Then the roof came off Fifth Third arena when Cincinnati QB Burrow joined the conversation.
The chat veered from trash-talk to drinking games to Mount Rushmore and even aliens.
‘Where are they?’ Burrow asked. ‘I feel like if they’re advanced enough to come visit us, then they’re advanced enough to cloak themselves so we don’t know about it… we’re not gonna to see it on an iPhone camera dawg’
It was all good fun. It was nevertheless a test of stamina for those supporters who, by the end, had been inside the arena for nearly six hours. Those who stuck around were at least treated to a touching finale. Travis and Jason vowed to be back for more before heading into town for a drink. They had earned the right to party. But they might need a few new tricks by next year. You can only graduate once, after all.