Former NFL center Jason Kelce has retired his cleats and pads after a storied career with the Philadelphia Eagles that saw him win a Super Bowl and appear in another one. However, Kelce hasn’t completely faded out of the public eye post-retirement.
Kelce is enjoying a burgeoning media career. He hosts a podcast, New Heights, with his brother Travis, and is a part of ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast crew.
Kelce recently started hosting a late-night show at ESPN, They Call it Late Night with Jason Kelce. Unfortunately, Kelce’s success doesn’t seem to be translating to the new show, according to Puck’s John Ourand.
“I’ve seen the numbers for ESPN’s first episode of “They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce,” and they’re not particularly good: 290,000 viewers,” Ourand reported after the show’s first episode.
Fans reacted to the news on social media.
“Who wants to watch Kelce outside football. He’s not that charismatic, same goes for his brother. They aren’t Charles Barkley or even Strahan,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“His 15 minutes need to end in about 2. But I am sure he will be propped up until the end of the KC run ends,” another fan added.
“He’s been shoved down our throats on ESPN and every other commercial. Only so much people can take before they get tired of it. Jason is WAY better than Bert Kreischer, but use him as an example. He was everywhere two years ago, now look at what people think about him,” added one fan.
“If you told me there’d be a show that combined Late Night w Conan O’Brien, NFL films, and talked football, I would love it. But that first episode was not good…didn’t mind the conversation though, but that might be due to Barkley,” a fan wrote.
It’ll be interesting to see if ratings for the show improve as Kelce gets more comfortable.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.