FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, November 27th, 2016

FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA FEATURES BOB COSTAS’ INTERVIEW WITH KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TE TRAVIS KELCE

“I feel like an idiot when I look back on it.” – Kelce on being thrown out of the game in Week 9

“Hats off to him for what they’ve been able to do… but…in football you have to have the mindset of dominating the man in front of you.” – Kelce on facing Denver’s Von Miller

STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 27, 2016 – For tonight’s Week 12 edition of NBC’s Football Night in America, the most-watched weekly studio show in sports, host Bob Costas interviews Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce. Football Night will also include highlights, analysis and reaction to earlier Week 12 games ahead of tonight’s Chiefs-Broncos Sunday Night Football showdown.

Football Night airs each Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on NBC. Costas will host tonight’s program live from Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo. He will be joined on site by Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya.

Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from NBC Sports Group’s Studio 1, and is joined by Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl champion Rodney Harrison, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on NBCSN, NBCSports.com and NBC Sports Radio. Kathryn Tappen will report from Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on the Panthers-Raiders game.

INTERVIEW: Below are excerpts from Costas’ interview with Kelce. If used, please note the mandatory credit: “In an exclusive interview airing tonight on Football Night in America.”

TRAVIS KELCE WITH BOB COSTAS


Bob Costas:
“If we throw these names into the elite category: Rob Gronkowski, Jason Witten, Jimmy Graham, Jordan Reed – how close do you think you are to that category?”

Travis Kelce: “I’m in that category.”

Costas: “In it?”

Kelce: “In that category. Just because stats are a little different — there might be more stats over there than there are in Kansas City — that shouldn’t take away from the talent level that I’ve been able to put out on the field.”

Costas: “Week 9 against the Jags, you don’t get a call to go your way, you’re jarring with the official. You take a towel as if it’s a flag and you throw your own penalty ‘flag.’ He tosses you, plus it cost you nearly $25,000 as a fine.”

Kelce: “$25,000, I think it was 30-40 yards in penalties. I feel like an idiot when I look back on it. You can’t watch it without laughing, but I still feel stupid that I ever had the thought in my mind to do that.”

Costas: “I love what you said to Rich Eisen. First you said, ‘The moment was priceless,’ because it was funny, but then you said, ‘No, there’s an actual price on it.’”

Kelce: “[Laughs] Yeah, there’s a tag on it.”

Costas: “Von Miller, a guy you have to respect, said about [tonight’s] game, that he really enjoys going up against you because there’s a game within a game.”

Kelce: “It’s fun. You start getting into guys’ heads, you start jarring back-and-forth. It’s just me going out there and being a competitor. Hats off to him for what they’ve been able to do, Super Bowl MVP, it’s impressive. But it’s one of those things where in football you have to have the mindset of dominating the man in front of you.”

Costas: “When you were younger and still in college and you had some missteps, it was interesting what your dad said to you, ‘Either you grow up and realize that you aren’t invincible, and you let this ruin you and let your dreams slip away. But one day you’ll realize you’re a Kelce boy, and a Kelce boy can’t be stopped.’”

Kelce: “Gives me chills every time I hear it. Big papa Kelce, he’s the one that ignited all of that in there. It’s fun going out there and playing for him, playing for my mother, playing for everyone back in Cleveland, Ohio. It’s a true pleasure. I’m an emotional guy, I’m a passionate guy. Stuff like that really hits home. It keeps me going every day.”

FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA