The Kelce's hail from Ohio and played their college football at the University of Cincinnati. That’s the same town where Pete Rose, a Cincinnati Reds and MLB icon, was blacklisted from the sport because of his forays into sports betting while he was a player and manager.
To this day, Rose, who was indefinitely suspended in 1989 and has not been reinstated, is the face of how sports betting can damage athletes’ careers. Travis said on the podcast that example alone was enough to discourage him from placing bets.
“I’ve seen what happened to his career, and I think, why even flirt with [sports betting]? Why even play around with it?”
Jason also said that the players’ willingness to bet on games, including the ones they participate in, has put their own safety and the league’s integrity in question.
“[Legal sports betting has] been made very much normalized in our culture recently, and it’s becoming so in the NFL, and it does affect the integrity of the game. It’s not as simple as just betting on your team to win. There’s a lot more factors in play here.”
The NFL has been active in responding to the growing gambling problem by requiring mandatory educational classes for incoming rookies and sending experts to team facilities around the league. It also released six golden rules to avoid conflicts with the gambling policy and enlisted retired quarterback Tom Brady in a video message that encouraged players not to fall into the clutches of sportsbooks.