“It Was Important That He Wasn’t (From) a Rival Team”: Kylie Kelce Looks Back at How Buffalo Fans Embraced Jason

Whenever the Chiefs and the Bills face off, the emotions run high. So the time Jason Kelce showed up at Highmark Stadium to cheer on his brother Travis as the two teams went head to head was no different. However, even though he was there to cheer on Travis and the Chiefs, Jason left as an honorary member of Bills Mafia.

It was the AFC Divisional Round clash between Kansas City and Buffalo in January 2024, and Jason was in full party mode. He ripped off his shirt in the freezing cold, jumped out of the stadium suite, hugged fans, chugged beers, and embraced Buffalo’s tailgate traditions like he’d been a Bills fan his whole life. At one point, he even drank from a random bowling ball, something he later admitted he had no idea what was in.

So, even though the Bills went on to lose the game 32-29, they certainly couldn’t have taken offense to Jason’s celebration. In fact, his energy was embraced, something that his wife, Kylie Kelce, delved into in the latest episode of the Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce podcast.

The former field hockey player started off by revealing what really went down that day, and how their unexpected night out in Buffalo turned into something memorable. “This was my first time in Buffalo,” Kylie recalled. “Before that game, we ended up in this little corner bar. I didn’t even end up sitting at the same table as my husband.”

Jason, unsurprisingly, was fully immersed with the fans. “He was deep in it,” she laughed. “All the people in there were lovely. They were so excited to see Jason. They were telling him how much they enjoyed watching him play.”

While NFL fanbases can be notoriously territorial, especially in high-stakes postseason games, Kylie pointed to one key reason why her husband’s presence didn’t feel like an intrusion to the Bills Mafia:

“I think it was important that he wasn’t [from] a rival team,” she said. “They were not in the same conference, and so it wasn’t a threat.”

To them, Jason wasn’t just an opposing player’s brother. He was an NFL legend and an outsider who came in peace. “He came in peace. It was a diplomacy mission,” aptly summed up Jerrod Carmichael, the episode’s guest.

 

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With the Bills Mafia celebrating Jason Kelce as their own, the NFL legend had no choice but to deliver, and boy, did he do it. Kylie remembered how he “jumped out of that suite to give people hugs,” summing him up perfectly: “Chug beers and give hugs—that sums him up, honestly.”

Kylie, reminiscing about that moment now with so much joy, is commendable because back then, she had asked the security to calm her husband down, as she had also reminded him to behave around Taylor Swift, who was also present at the game. But Jason’s over-the-top antics were so endearing that Taylor reportedly told Travis Kelce back then that she “absolutely loved” his elder brother’s energy.

Though Jason never got to fulfill his one unaccomplished mission of crashing through a folding table, a Buffalo tailgate staple, he clearly didn’t need to because he ended up leaving a mark on the Bills Mafia through raw, human connection and by being the life of the party.