The Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs will open their respective seasons next Friday in a game that will be exclusively streamed on YouTube, and it will only feature one Kelce brother.
According to a report from Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports, YouTube approached former All-Pro center Jason Kelce, who is Travis’ older brother, about joining its coverage of the Week 1 game between the Chargers and Chiefs. Jason is currently under contract with ESPN, and his employer is not allowing him to make a spot appearance with the competition.
Kelce signed a multi-year deal with ESPN last year to join “Monday Night Football” as an analyst. As Glasspiegel notes, ESPN implemented a policy this season that it will not be allowing on-air talent to take part in coverage of games on YouTube and Netflix.
ESPN allowed Mina Kimes and Laura Rutledge to be a part of Netflix’s studio show for its Christmas doubleheader last year, but the network has decided to put a stop to that. Glasspiegel reports that the policy was implemented before YouTube approached Jason Kelce.
The Chargers and Chiefs will play at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, Brazil. YouTube just landed a Hall of Fame quarterback as its lead analyst for the game not all that long ago.
It is hardly a surprise that YouTube wanted Kelce as part of its coverage, especially with all the additional hype that has surrounded Travis’ relationship with Taylor Swift recently. Swift made an appearance on Travis and Jason’s “New Heights” podcast earlier this month, and the segment set all kinds of records. Travis and Swift then announced earlier this week that they have gotten engaged.
