New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce - Prince William on England's World Cup, Travis at Wembley, NFL in the UK & America's 250th | Bonus EP

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

92%ers, welcome to another bonus episode of New Heights brought to you by Xfinity!Today, we are joined by His Royal Highness Prince William, The Prince of Wales!Prince William talks to the guys about his passion for Aston Villa F.C., England's confidence in the World Cup, and the NFL's growing presence overseas. Later, we talk about how football can bring people together, compare flopping in the NFL, his Mount Rushmore of English footballers, whether VAR is good for the game, and more!Shop our new merch at https://kelceclubhouse.comWatch and listen to new episodes of New Heights every Wednesday during the NFL season and follow us on Social Media for all the best moments from the show:https://lnk.to/newheightshowYou can also listen to new episodes on Wondery, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts....Download the full podcast here:Wondery: https://wondery.app.link/s9hHTgtXpMbApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-heights/id1643745036Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1y3SUbFMUSESC1N43tBleK?si=LsuQ4a5MRN6wGMcfVcuynwSupport the show:XFINITY: Sponsored by Xfinity. Get the most reliable, fiber-powered WiFi from Xfinity at one price for 5 years, guaranteed. Plus, get online in minutes with same-day WiFi. Visit https://xfinity.com to get it now. Xfinity Imagine That.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Well, let's talk a little bit about the origin story of your football fandom. Our dad was Cleveland Brown fan growing up. We grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and I don't want to say he forced us, but he integrated us into being fans of that team. Did your dad get you into Aston Villa, or is this your own doing? Absolutely not. My father hates football. Oh, no.

Thanks to our presenting sponsor. X-Finity Welcome back to new Heights, ladies and gentlemen boys and girls, a wondry show. We are your host. I'm Travis Kelsey. This is my big brother, Jason Kelsey,

and boy, do we have a good one for you again? This is a unique one that we've been pretty excited about to maybe get in the books for you guys and what a more perfect time than talk about a little World Cup action with somebody who's a little bit more familiar

with the football version of soccer. Yeah, we're not going to There's no new news. There's no other segments. This one came out of nowhere. Still don't really know how the fuck we're doing this. Yeah. But ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, our guest today is Prince William of Wales. Here you go. All right, Tram, it's the World Cup and we haven't had any soccer fans on. Yeah, I know, man. Do we know any soccer fans? Well, maybe our guest today, the 6'3 Prince of London, England? Maybe already? That's right. The president of the English Football Association, the vice royal patron of a Welsh rugby union, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Cornwall, the Lord of the Isles, Prince of Great Stuart of Scotland,

Earl of Chester and the Prince of Wales. 92% is please welcome his royal highness, Prince William! That is quite an intro, guys. Amazing. We had to do it big for you. Had to do it big. Prince William, we got the chance to see you not too long ago and invited you on the show

because we were talking to a little Aston Villa soccer some excitement about the World Cup how are we feeling about England's win over Croatia yesterday or a couple days ago

very good Travis I'm so pleased it's gotten away I've been looking forward to the World Cup for ages it feels like a long time between the years it comes around again

but it's so good it's back on again so obviously we were very much knowledgeable in the world of American football you know your soccer you've been around the game for a long time

you've been 20 years I think the head of the FAA the football association Yeah. What is it about this team that makes you extra confident? You know, I think there's a, it seems like a good blend of experience and youth and all that. Where do you sit with the team?

So first of all, Jason, I have to correct you. It's football. It's not second. Dechis, too say. Fair, fair, fair. And second of all, yeah, I've been, I was president of the FAA, the Football Association for, since about 2010. I'm now patron. And yeah, I've been watching many, many England teams.

And back of the day, you guys may not even heard of Wayne Rooney. Oh, my gosh. Come on now. That was, if I would have played soccer, I would have wanted to play like Wayne Rooney. I love the aggression. Just all hard, hustle all over the field, you know it. He's a fast, he's a fast guy. He's aggressive.

And when I was growing up, watching him play was really exciting. I always felt like we had a really good chance. But as each World Cup goes on and the results don't quite go away, a little bit of hope gets chipped away each time. Yeah. And so I'm just, you know, I'm taking it calmly and quietly and like, come on, we're going to do well and see how we go. But I am quietly confident.

I think Thomas Tuchel, who's a manager, the coach, he's got them into a really good frame of mind. The team will play with more freedom, more fluidity. I think Gareth, who was a previous manager, his philosophy was very much of defense. So if we don't let goals in, we'll win. Thomas, I think, for first to go a bit more out there. And if we lose, we lose playing the way we want to play. And if you're going to score four goals, we'll score five. And I think that's a really good attitude.

I know it's fun to watch. I love some high-flying action, man. It sounds like when we got all Patty Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes for the Chiefs, when we got him, it was just like, man, we're just going to try and outscore you then just touchdown you to death, man. Do you know what a touchdown is, first William? I know what a touchdown is. I can't say ever done one for real, but I've tried to do a couple of touchdowns,

and I've put out my shoulder blade, but apart from that, yeah. We do have a clip you throwing the ball. You can sling it pretty good. That was a good throw into the net there. Well, we had the NFL over here. Obviously, they're playing quite a few matches, and I went to see them train and play, and had a couple of Welsh guys who were also training at the time,

and I love the America football. It's brilliant. I used to play out on the beach with friends and stuff like that, but how you guys do it as many times as you do, and all the tactics. It's really quite intense. It is interesting. I mean,

the NFL's been playing over in London for a long time now. Do you feel like the fan base in London is growing for American football? Definitely. It's getting more and more popular. And I think the more people that see it, the more it's televised. I think if we could understand the rules a bit more over here, that might help.

Because like I say, it is quite tactical. And it's those sort of short breaks of play that I think we ever hear, a bit more used to a match running for. for 90-odd minutes, it doesn't really stop. Right. So that bit of it is kind of explaining the tactics behind it makes a bit more appealing to most people over here. That's good.

Good to know. Good to know. We're going to be over there this year. Eagles are playing in the new Tottenham Stadium. We've played in Wembley before. You've played in Well-Ly. Yeah, I've had the fortune to play in Wembley, and it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had in my life.

Yeah. I remember I scored a touchdown there and I was like, where's that football? I need to put that thing in a glass case. I need to get it painted and everything, man. It was an unbelievable experience, but the London crowd is so, it's like an American football, typically the excitement isn't every single play. When we played at Wembley, it was every single play was exciting for the crowd. And it's just, you could feel the passion and the desire for it over there.

And we love playing overseas, that's for sure. You think the U.S. is doing pretty good as a host city so far? Yeah, it's fantastic. I think it's been a brilliant World Cup. It's been really well sort of started. And I think the tournament's been well balanced logistically for everyone being in Canada, the US and Mexico. Makes it really hard for the teams moving around. It does feel like this is the most spread out of World Cup has ever been, which is one of the downs. I mean, it's really nice that all of North America is getting highlighted. But I went to Brazil for the World Cup in 2014. And one of the things that was just incredible was how many different countries are all, you know, brought together to unite over the game. And obviously, everybody's trying to win.

But there's so many people all over the place from different nationalities. It's one of the great joys of watching the World Cup and why it really takes over you. It's just, there's something special about that event in particular and how much it means to the entire world. Well, let me ask you this, Prince William. For all the English fans that have come over or are coming over for the World Cup,

what do you think the biggest culture shock is over here in America for them? Oh, good question. Is it the light beer? Is it the... Yeah, the beer definitely is going to taste different, I think, for all of them. I think you haven't made your match, so you've seen a lot of beer drinkers from the UK. There we go. We can handle our own beer to anyone.

But I think the scale of your stadiums, I think the size of them, is really going to be quite a cold shock for a lot of fans. I mean, we really know our football. So to see stadiums that are bigger and kind of an amazing atmosphere that we can also emulate it here, that's quite a big deal. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think one of the things that stands out to me, I've talked about this a lot, the United States, we lack the veracity of soccer chance. Like the tenacity and passion. And one thing that the UK has down is soccer chance. Like, I mean, I love watching those clips. The Man United chant for his Latane Ibrahimovich. Like all that stuff is just incredible. But it leads to, it points out the difference in the culture between, how England views soccer and how the United States views it. How do we get that in the U.S.? What do we need to do to build a foundation of just such passion?

It's a good point. I think you guys have so much passion already in terms of your American football, your baseball, basketball. Those are massive parts of your cultural heritage. And I think trying to create that same tribalness around football would be really useful. So over here, the tribality of your club team. And it's like a second family.

for a lot of fans really means it plays very importantly in your emotions. And, you know, my weekend goes from being either the best weekend in the world when we win or to frankly, I don't want to see anyone on Monday morning because I'm really down. Yeah. And that lasts for quite a few days. So, you know, you guys get that in other ways. But I think if you can attach that to football as well, then you or soccer, then you get it. Yeah.

And it does feel like the pub is a central, like, part of just English sports. We mentioned like rugby as well. It feels like there's that communal aspect where everybody comes together. And those are all the videos I see online, right? Or when everybody's going crazy at the pub watching the games. Is that a part of it just like coming together and bonding over the sport and, you know, enjoying the wins and relishing the losses? Yeah.

Definitely. I think, you know, there's rowdy evenings, those long afternoons, a few drinks, the social elements of it. You know, there's plenty of chance you guys. want to hear. Sure. They're pretty spicy. They're quite rude to broadcasts.

Yeah. Those are the ones we want. Yeah. I will say this. So England is back to a little bit of the English coming to America. England's home base is Kansas City. And I got a lot of pride for Kansas City.

It's kind of slowly become like one of American soccer football's U.S. Like we love our soccer in Kansas City and I think it's doing a great job right now at hosting, but coming to Kansas City, have you had barbecue before, Prince? Probably not one of your barbecues, Travis, no. Do you know what a burnt end is? No. No. We got to get you some end of that brisket big guy.

Come on down, man. It doesn't sign great, Travis. No. I promise you, you'd love it. Let me ask you this. You've been the president of English of the FAA for 20 years. What do you view is the role? What is your role within that?

Just don't mess up. That's good. That's good. But do you- Yeah, I think the role I've wanted to play with the FAA has been very much kind of cheerleader, supporter of all things, England team, supporting the FAA, who are the governing body,

and making sure that they feel they've got the backing of sort of the country and getting on with what they need to do around football. I think trying to support our World Cup or European bids. You know, this country particularly is mad about soccer and football. So trying to get a World Cup to be hosted here or a Euro is here is fantastic and being trying to do a bit of work on that. But also I think I'll be trying to help reform the system of it as well. So some of our football legislation and the way we do football sort of regularly stuff goes back a long way and try to update it at times and make sure it's more relevant. Bear in mind the women's game particularly has come out of a smaller world. So now being massive.

And I'm not sure we quite reflect that and how we look after the football game. What do you view as football's role within society or just sports in general? Like its ability to unite people to bring people together. I love it. I think the more sport we can do, not only is a good for health, particularly mental health, mental fitness. It's a way to let out some steam. I think you guys won't know it yet because you're still, you're younger than me and, well, Travis is still playing as well. But when you stop playing any sport, you're really pine for it. And it's that competitive sort of spirit and that camaraderie, particularly around teammates and like having that. You miss it a bit. And I, you know, for me, sport has been that. that bit that's filled a hole that's been missing in my life since I've not been able to carry on playing sport. I hear you. Well, let's talk a little bit about the origin story of your football fandom. Our dad was Cleveland Brown fan growing up.

We grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and I don't want to say he forced us, but he integrated us into being fans of that team. Did your dad get you into Aston Villa, or is this your own doing? Absolutely not. My father hates football. Oh no. My family haven't got a particularly long history with football. There are a few of us who support teams. My football love came from friends taking me to my first match. Nice.

At school growing up, you can't avoid the football chat. It's everywhere. And some school friends, sort of charter friends of mine, took me to my first game. And actually, I saw Gareth Sainthgate the other day just this week. and he reminded me that the first match I saw was he was playing in it. Nice. The previous England manager used to play for Aston Villa at club level.

That's cool. And the first game, he was a defender playing in the match that I watched in 2000, which was Aston Villa versus Bolton. Daghond time flies, man. That's a cool story. We got to ask. We're going to go to this last section here. All right.

Prince. Cool. America is turning 250 years this year. Be honest, are you surprised we made it? there were times there were times yeah but I'd like to think the UK and the US

have been together for those two 50 years oh yeah it's a good it's a good brotherhood it has been it has been a really good brotherhood all righty this one's a very obvious one I feel like

but what is the more iconic moment at Wembley Stadium Travis scoring a touchdown in 2015 against the Lions or Travis is a backup dancer to the one and only Taylor Swift Travis is a backup dancer

Definitely a very proud moment of my life for sure. I think you should do it again. That's right. Listen, Hay's going to sign up for a tour. I'll happily make sure that we bring her back to life. No, that was honestly one of the coolest moments ever was meeting you and the little ones that day. Me and Jason joke about it all the time.

We were so nervous to meet you guys and the royal family. And Jason has this running joke where he didn't know what to do with his beer. Yeah, it wasn't a joke. It was reality. I don't know what, well, you want to be respectful and know what the protocols. Of course. No, it was awesome. And you were fantastic.

The kids were great. Yeah. Princess Charlotte was still the highlight for me. I have four daughters as well. So, I mean, she was great. No, congratulations. I mean, four daughters. I don't know how you do that.

That is definitely a. difficult to ask. The hardest job. We're going to ask you Mount Rushmore. We do this with a lot of our guests. It's a carving on the side of a mountain of four of our greatest presidents,

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln. We do this to say who are the four greatest in whatever field. So we're going to ask you, Prince William, who is on your Mount Rushmore

of English soccer players? Or football players. Yes, English footballers. Yes. Yeah, football players. Okay. that's really hard. So they've got to be English, yeah?

Yes. Yes, that is the one required. Yeah, we can throw the England team, the English teams. Okay, so best of all time English players, what we're saying. Yes. So for that, David Beckham's got to be in there. Yes, love that. Probably the best crosser of the ball I've ever seen and probably ever will see.

He's up there. I would say, or it's difficult because Gary Lineke would be in there somewhere with his goals, but then Harry Kane is just about to overtake him. Yeah. So, you know, those two are very tied together. Harry Kane could end up being one of the greatest English strikers we've ever seen. Yes. I think, who else?

I grew up watching, trying to think of some different positions. So Stephen Gerard. Yeah. An amazing midfielder as well. Absolutely fantastic player. Frank Lampard, him as well. Lampard. And Wayne Rooney's got to be in there too.

That generation I was really hopeful for and absolutely loved them. But if you're going, you know, a long way back, it's Bobby Charlton as well. You know, one of the greatest of all-time English players. The selection there, different, different genres. You know, you bring up, first of all, outstanding lists. Did you just knight everybody you just said? I tried to, yeah. What is one of the things that you brought up Wayne Rooney earlier,

one of the things I always loved about his game is that he didn't, I mean, maybe he has, and I just don't remember this clip. I don't remember him ever taking a dive. I always remember him fighting through contact and continually going hard. One of the things that happened in the USA game against Paraguay, Ream was given a yellow card, and they looked at the official review, and they found that the player had taken a dive from Paraguay,

and they reversed the yellow card. Do you think this is good for the game of soccer to get that kind of aspect out of it and that replay is now getting rid of something that I think a lot of fans have been frustrated about? Yeah, I think so. It's a really hard one, because we've got this, technology now. And there's been a lot of chat around VAR, the video system referee and also

reviewing everything. But the problem is that because we have the technology, it's hard to say, well, don't use the technology. So we've just got to get to a system and a point where it's better and it's working quicker because I think the delays are the hardest thing. But I think being able to iron out diving is good. But then you're seeing some of the times watching the matches, you see actual proper like American football style tackles going on inside the penalty area for a corner. And yet VAR never steps in for that. So you've got to be careful what you wish for is that it can become so staccatoed that you don't end up having a free-flowing game at all.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we deal with similar issues in American football, even though there's way more stoppages just in general. So it's easier to there's, it's not as flowing free flow of a game as obviously soccer football is. Sorry to interrupt. Are we going to call it soccer slash football forever now? I mean, it's messing with my head. We just don't want to confuse anyone on which sport we're talking.

But it is the same thing. When the subjective calls come in and it's hard, the slow motion doesn't necessarily tell the whole story, right? The tugging of a jersey feels different when it's in slow motion sometimes than it does in real speed and in real time to the ref on the field. That's where I feel like sometimes it's really difficult on our field to like is a pass interference. Do we want replay assist to interfere with those type of penalties and things?

No, put it on the ref. Yeah, yeah. Put it on the rep. What are some of the tactical fouls that you guys can do in your game? So it's, are we talking about replay assist? Are we just talking like in general? In general. So of course, things like, you know, taking a dive can be seen as a professional foul.

What's the equivalent in American football? I don't know that there is a, I mean, if somebody took a dive, which I don't think of, some guys do. You, like, get pushed after a play. Sometimes you've got to help the refs see that he's holding you because it can be, it can get some physical games so you get real tight. Yeah, it's a good, it's a good question. I don't think that it has been waived as much of a flag on that. There are definitely guys in the game, you know when a guy is trying to get a penalty, right?

Like a defender might be out, he might not be able to get to the ball carrier. So he'll put his arms up like this to try. and get a holding call to take a big run back. A receiver might fall down to make it look more like it's past interference. I guess it would be on sportsmanlike conduct, but I've never seen that called. No, I haven't seen a call. I wouldn't mind of being called. Yeah, it's more frowned upon by the fans, I feel like, than it is a penalty of any sort.

Yeah. Because you can, you know, the players now in football, say the attacking team are getting away and they're going to look like they're getting a good chance to score. The first person that comes in just basically takes out the player and they'll receive a yellow card for it, but it's basically a professional foul because they're stopping their game knowing full well what they're doing. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. God, that's a cutthroat fucking mentality. Jesus. There's some rules in place with American football where if a guy is like off and running, and it hasn't happened, but like if somebody commits a foul way behind or a penalty way behind the play.

You can get ejected. You can get ejected. You can also decline and accept these penalties in American football. So like if it does try to affect the play in a negative way, the other team usually just declines it because they still get the yardage on it. All right, Prince, we got one more question for you. We ask everybody what's their welcome to their profession, their fandom moment in their league when they had this realization of an epiphany?

that they're doing it. What was your welcome to football moment? My welcome to football moment. So what, like my biggest, the biggest kind of moment where I felt I loved it? Yes. Or you're in for the long haul. Yeah.

Yeah. So I think, weirdly, this sounds very odd, but I got into football more than ever when we got relegated. So when Asovila went from premiership to championship, I suddenly really enjoyed the battle to get. back in the Premiership. You do almost, I think you do 40 matches, I think, in the championship, which is way more than you do in the Premiership. And I got really into that. And it was midweek

games and you could watch it coming back in after, you know, being out to the day. And yeah, I loved all that. And it got me straight back in there. But obviously, my highlight, having been a fan for how many years now of Assevilla, is the Europa League final. And winning a trophy is just the best thing because I was born a month after they won the European Cup in 82. So I I thought like that generation has missed out on many big opportunities. We won a Cup in 1996. That was a domestic one. But a European one we haven't won since 82.

So it's a big deal. Hell yeah, it is. Yeah, hell yeah. Prince William, the guy you won the Foxhole, they get regulated, he gets more into it. That was it. That's what I'm talking about. Relegation, I really love that concept in European sports in general. But I think that's something that in the United States, we deal with a lot of teams tanking

at the end of the year to try and get better draft picks, improvements. the idea that not only are the best teams going to be recognized and honored, but the worst teams, you're actually out of the league. It puts an extra amount of emphasis and pressure on those teams trying to be competitive. And it also builds the foundation of the game, like you just said, there's more depth to all these other communities that don't really, you know, maybe they don't have the same amount of resources or whatever, but they're in those leagues and there's a chance they could get into the Premier League.

and obviously yeah go ahead and jason that's exactly the point is that that the idea that any club can get to the top of the premiership is potentially there now you know realistically it's a huge challenge depending on which club you support and what your finances are like and the side of the stadium and all that sort of stuff but the fact that you could do it and obviously i don't know if you remember but lester city i forget which year it was they were an outside kind of like dark horse to do anything they went and won the premiership but like there wasn't another football fan in the country that thought good on Lester. That was an amazing achievement. So we love the idea of someone coming out of the normal top six, seven teams and winning the premiership. This is the World Cup. Obviously,

you guys are coming off for the big game against Croatia. What in your mind is a successful World Cup for England? I think winning it. That's the easiest answer. He gets it. They make it to the finals. You're going to make the trip across the pond? Definitely. If we're in the finals, I'll definitely be that. I love it, man. Maybe see you both there for the final. Oh my gosh. Come on now. Time me up. You might be in training camp.

Yeah, I probably won't be able to go. I'll probably be in St. Joe, Missouri. We'll sneak you out for a night. Tell me, yeah. Tell me who I need to write to, Travis. We'll get you out there are you. Here we go. Coach Reed, listen, Prince William called.

I'll be back tomorrow. That's right. Friends, appreciate the time, the stories. The fandom is awesome to hear about. And wishing England the best and always wishing you and the royal family of best, man. You guys are awesome. Thank you, Travis. Thank you, Jason.

Really great to see you guys. And, yeah, catch up soon. Yes, sir. Sounds good. Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Xfinity. All righty, soccer season is about to take over for everyone's summer. And if you're like most fans, you're not watching alone. You're packing the living room, firing up the grill and making it an event.

Everybody's over. Your buddies, the neighbors, that one cousin who thinks he could have gone pro. all streaming, all on their phones all at once. So you need Wi-Fi that's built for that energy. The fiber-powered gig Wi-Fi from Xfinity keeps everyone connected. Phones, tablets, TVs, all going at once, low lag, and no drama. Wi-Fi is so reliable you can host the world. That's right.

Check out Xfinity.com slash soccer to learn more. Restrictions apply, select plans only powered by fiber connected to premises by coaxal cable. All right, that is our conversation with Prince William. Thank you so much to the Prince of Wales for coming on the show. That was incredible. Insane. We have nothing else for you guys. That's a wrap on this episode.

We hope you enjoyed it. We hope you're enjoying the World Cup. Once again, New Heights is a Wondry show. Follow the show on all social media. At New Heights Show with 1S for fun clips throughout the week to the Prince of Wales. We appreciate you to England. Good luck in the U.S. Let's fucking go, baby.

Thanks to our presenting sponsor. X-Finity. Thank you to the New Heights production, and thank you to all the 9-2-Centers. Enjoy the World Cup. Peace. Yeah, when we started this thing, I don't think... We thought we were going to be talking to, like,

fat offensive linemen, not... Not kings, queens, princes of other nations. Yeah. This is pretty wild. What is life? It is. It's crazy. And it's also very fitting.

I mean, obviously, America is 250 years old this year. having the World Cup in the United States and in North America. Some very fun world stage things happening this year. I was just at the crossing on the Delaware the other day. I forgot to ask them about the ascots, man. I tried to ask them about the Hessians. The huh? Hesians.

Talk to me. When we were fighting the Revolutionary War. Oh, God. Thank God you. We were not only fighting the English, the Redcoats. We were also fighting mercenaries, hired. by England, they hired a bunch of German soldiers. No.

They were known for, like, eating babies and a bunch of other shows. No. Bad guys. Bad guys. I'm so glad you didn't ask him about that. Wanted to keep it light. Brandon, are you coming to tell us to stop talking about all this? You can do whatever you want.

I'm just telling you where I'm sitting. We're going to probably cut the heche and stuff in half, probably. Yeah. I do. Can I point out something to you? Can I point out something real quick? Yes. Maybe we use it but we don't.

The fact that our week consisted of you dunking with Will Ferrell. This is a crazy. Blocking an Alex Morgan penalty kick. Pregnant Alex. Then we talked to and we ended the week by talking to Prince William. Yeah. It's a pretty crazy world. What the fuck?

Yeah, no, this is insane. My podcasting is great. This has gotten out of hand. We've got to dial it back.