Fifth Third Arena was filled with screaming Bearcats, Bengals and Taylor Swift fans on April 11 as Jason and Travis Kelce made their grand return to the University of Cincinnati to bring their New Heights podcast to life.
The first of its kind, New Heights Live did not disappoint. When I arrived almost an hour before the show's start time, the arena was packed and the energy was high.
On the arena floor, the Cincinnati Bearcats mascot and a man wearing a shirt that said “TikTok Famous” on the front and “The Dancing Trucker” on the back danced with fans to get everyone hyped. I wasn’t sure what we were in for, but as the clock struck 7 p.m., Jason and Travis ran through fire and smoke onto the arena floor and the crowd went wild.
The brothers expressed a lot of gratitude for UC and the city of Cincinnati in their opening, followed by Jason asking if there were any Swifties in the house which expectedly got a huge reaction from the audience. They announced that the show would begin with the first-ever Great Lombaby Games.
The boys explained that the games would be Team Athletic, consisting of student-athletes at UC, versus Team Academic, consisting of non-athlete students. Both teams ran out to the floor through smoke to begin the first game which was one student from each team being spun in a swing, running to pick up a UC football helmet, then throwing that helmet through a cutout of Jason and Travis. Jason spun the Team Academic student a bit too much – making the first game a clean sweep for Team Athletic. The score was now Team Athletic one, Team Academic none.
The second game was a bit messier, with one student from each team having to dig through an inflatable pool of Skyline chili to find Jason’s 2017 Super Bowl ring. This game led to chili being thrown back and forth between contestants before Team Academic won. The third game was a trivia bull riding contest, and a student from each team would have two minutes to answer as many New Heights trivia questions as possible while on the mechanical bull — the only catch being that they could not answer any questions while off the bull. This game ended in a tie with the tie-breaking question being what color is grass and Team Athletic taking back the lead. The next couple of games were a real back-and-forth with Team Academic winning the coney-eating contest, and Team Athletic winning the spelling bee with one of the words being Freiermuth, the name of a tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers which naturally caused the Cincinnati crowd to boo. Team Academic won Name that Tune and Team Athletic won the ducking and jumping toxic waste game, tying up the game.
The last game was a winner-takes-all relay that included riding a tricycle, throwing a football through a hula hoop, digging through a pile of pants for Jason’s jeans, blindfolded pin the mustache on Andy Reid and more, all while holding a football. Though Team Athletic got a huge lead at the beginning of the relay, their struggle with finding Jason’s jeans hurt their chances as Team Academic was able to find their footing to become the champions of the first-ever Great Lombaby Games. Team Academic's prize was a 100-pound golden Lombaby trophy.
The crowd was still reeling from the games as the arena floor cleared. The air was thick with anticipation in the arena as we waited for the podcast portion of the show. There were some big names like Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman Orlando Brown Jr. and quarterback Joe Burrow scheduled to make an appearance.
When the lights finally dimmed and the fire and smoke were queued up again, Jason and Travis were back out in the arena, now taking center stage. The show started with the duo shooting New Heights Live t-shirts wrapped in Subway sandwich wrappers into the crowd with the help of the cheer squad.
After the shirt-launching shenanigans, the first guest brought out to join the show was former Cincinnati Bearcats starting quarterback and current Arizona Cardinals quarterback, Desmond Ridder. Jason, Travis and Ridder shared stories of their days at UC, telling the eager crowd how they all had to endure the punishment of running the Nippert Stadium stairs when late for practice. During their time with Ridder, they decided to do their no-dumb-questions segment, the question chosen was – of course – which famous chili chain Ridder prefers, Skyline or Gold Star. Ridder chose Skyline, which prompted the crowd to cheer.
The next guest was Bengals left tackle and former right tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs Orlando Brown Jr. Travis and Brown spoke at length about their time in Kansas City together and their first impressions of each other. Brown explained how he loves the city and playing for the Bengals with Joe Burrow as quarterback. This was almost like a signal for the man himself.
The crowd was electric. That was the loudest the arena had been the whole night as Burrow took the stage. Travis mentioned the growing Chiefs-Bengals rivalry and told Burrow that he loves it when the teams get to play each other because of how talented they both are. This prompts Jason to ask why Burrow believes the Bengals fair so well against the Chiefs. Burrow says that the Bengals are built to beat the Chiefs and the crowd shouted in agreement. The show went over taunting, the spiciest white boy in the NFL debates and Burrow’s ‘Show me the aliens’ post, which Burrow explained by saying, “Well, where are they?” Toward the end, Jason and Burrow share a touching moment about when Jason was trying to recruit him to UC as he transferred from Ohio State University. As Burrow and Brown left the stage, I figured this was the end of New Heights Live.
However, just as everyone thought the show was over, the president of the University of Cincinnati, Neville G. Pinto, came out in graduation regalia. Despite Jason and Travis graduating from UC, neither participated in their respective ceremonies. Jason and Travis got to wear their gowns, and Travis got to deliver a graduation speech that he ended by downing a beer. The show is then closed out with red and black confetti falling everywhere as it would at a regular UC graduation.
Travis and Jason brought an energy to Fifth Third Arena that hadn’t been felt since they left UC over a decade ago. To me, the show was everything I’d hoped it would be. It was entertaining, funny and even heartwarming at moments. I wasn't the only one who felt this way.
“We loved it. We were freaking out the whole time,” said UC freshmen Elizabeth Butzin and Layla Pelan.
The roommates originally bonded over their love for the New Heights podcast. “We were on the phone with each other when we ordered the tickets,” said Pelan. “We needed to make sure that we got tickets.”
“We were not taking chances on the student lottery, so we were like, 'We will buy that ticket. We don't care about the price,'” said Butzin.
On what stood out to them the most about the show, Butzin and Pelan said just being able to experience the show in real life and seeing Jason and Travis in the flesh. Butzin and Pelan also agreed that seeing the live show has given them a deeper appreciation for the podcast.
