What Travis Kelce Needs to Do to Become Richer Than Tom Brady if He Retires Now
Ever since the 2025-26 regular NFL season concluded, people have been wondering if Travis Kelce is going to come back for another year or if he is going to hang up his cleats and call it a career.
The Kansas City Chiefs star‘s fiancée is worth well over a billion dollars, while his net worth is between $70 and $90 million. The athlete’s fortune comes from his football career earnings of $110 million and his fast-growing off-field portfolio that includes sponsorships, media, and his New Heights podcast.
But if Kelce does decide to leave the NFL and ride off into the sunset, what would he have to do to bring his own net worth up to surpass someone like Tom Brady?
Can Kelce surpass Brady’s wealth in retirement?
The former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback now works in the media, has a slew of endorsement deals, is one of the Las Vegas Raiders’ minority owners, and has a net worth of $350 million. So can Kelce follow Brady’s blueprint and surpass the GOAT’s net worth?
Speaking on behalf of ComeOn Ontario, sport finance expert Dr. Rob Wilson told Showbiz Cheat Sheet, “The real upside begins at retirement, where scalable income replaces salary. Acting is a useful brand extender rather than a core revenue engine, whereas punditry, presenting and personality-led sports media offer recurring, low-risk returns. The Tom Brady blueprint shows how sporting credibility can be converted into long-term media wealth, and Kelce is already positioning himself for that transition.”
Dr. Wilson added that Kelce’s not likely to surpass Brady or even someone like Aaron Rodgers, who also may be retiring soon, but he could do something to eclipse them, explaining, “Surpassing Brady or Rodgers financially is possible but unlikely without a major equity win. Brady operates in the several hundred-million-dollar tier driven by broadcast contracts and business ownership, while Rodgers sits comfortably in the nine-figure bracket.
“Kelce’s upside comes from earlier crossover appeal and cultural relevance, but to truly eclipse them, he would need ownership in a major platform or a transformative media deal rather than relying purely on endorsements and appearances.”
Kelce and Swift brought in millions for the NFL, sales will be impacted when he retires
Swift and Kelce’s relationship was one of the best things to happen to the NFL. It was already a wildly popular multi-million dollar sport, but when the Chiefs’ tight end and pop superstar got together, the league gained a whole new demographic of fans who began tuning in to Chiefs games and supporting the team.
According to Dr. Wilson, when Kelce walks away sales for Chiefs merchandise won’t be the same.
“In pure sporting terms, Brady and Rodgers were bigger within the NFL ecosystem,” he said. “However, Kelce has enjoyed a broader pop culture moment thanks to his relationship with Taylor Swift, which has pulled NFL conversation into entirely new demographics. From a commercial perspective, that breadth of reach matters as much as sporting greatness, and Kelce’s appeal has extended further outside traditional NFL audiences than either quarterback managed at their peak.
“At a league level, Kelce’s retirement will not materially impact NFL revenues, which now exceed $23 billion annually. The league is structurally resilient. The loss is more marginal with reduced celebrity-driven media spikes, softer Chiefs merchandise sales, and less crossover appeal for certain sponsors. The financial impact is felt locally and narratively rather than across the NFL’s core revenue engine. But there will be an inevitable replacement, in time.”
