Kelce popular Super Bowl MVP pick, but no props for Swift
A tight end has never been named Super Bowl MVP, but bettors are banking on Chiefs star Travis Kelce to become the first one to win the award in Las Vegas.
Kelce, whose girlfriend is pop superstar Taylor Swift, got some support at the Westgate SuperBook at 80-1 odds last week before helping Kansas City beat Baltimore 17-10 in Sunday’s AFC championship game.
Kelce, who had 11 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown against the Ravens, is now the 12-1 fourth choice to be named Super Bowl MVP and the ticket leader at the SuperBook after he was 20-1 on Monday morning.
“We expect him to be popular with how much he means to that offense and the casual fan might have interest in that,” SuperBook vice president of risk Jeff Sherman said. “Whether you watch football or not, people have seen Travis Kelce’s name in the spotlight.”
The SuperBook also has some liability on 49ers tight end George Kittle, who is a 50-1 long shot to win the award after being 100-1 last week.
Running backs have been overlooked for Super Bowl MVP as well. Only seven have won the award, the last one being Denver’s Terrell Davis in 1998. That hasn’t stopped bettors from backing Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco, who was 150-1 last week and is now the 25-1 fifth favorite at the Westgate.
Quarterbacks have won the award in 32 of the 57 Super Bowls. Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the +120 favorite to be named Super Bowl MVP for the second straight year and the third time in five years.
San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy is the +225 second choice and 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is the 5-1 third pick.
Defensive players have claimed the award in nine Super Bowls. Chiefs pass rusher Chris Jones and 49ers pass rusher Nick Bosa are each 80-1 shots to be named MVP.
Sherman said the Super Bowl MVP market is always one of the most popular props.
“When the casual bettor gets involved with the game, they’ll bet the game and usually that prop because it’s simple and people like to bet at longer odds,” Sherman said. “People just like to take long shots on it.”
The longest shot to win the award is San Francisco fullback Kyle Juszczyk at 500-1.
No Swift props
The SuperBook will post its massive menu of Super Bowl props on the board at the Westgate at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Nevada sportsbooks aren’t expected to offer any props involving Swift, though the SuperBook did post a prop on its mobile app Monday that Sherman dubbed “Some Swift competition.”
“We can try to get creative in the naming of it but we can’t specifically use ‘How many times are they showing her?’” Sherman said. “Because it’s not in the box score. There’s no concrete statistic you can look up on that.”
The prop pits Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark’s points on Super Bowl Sunday against Kelce’s first-half receiving yards (-2½).
Circa sportsbook operations manager Jeff Benson addressed Swift props on X.
“While I love Taylor Swift as much as the next person, please don’t ask us about any Tay Swift props because they aren’t happening unless (the Nevada) Gaming (Control Board) becomes big Swifties in the next week,” Benson said.
PGA Tour long shots
A triple-digit long shot won a PGA Tour event for the fourth straight week.
Matthieu Pavon won the Farmers Insurance Open on Saturday after having pretournament odds of 125-1 at the SuperBook. He follows PGA Tour winners Chris Kirk (200-1), Grayson Murray (400-1) and Nick Dunlap (300-1).
“With all the players that are in LIV now, if you toss out the three big guns in (Rory) McIlroy, (Scottie) Scheffler and (Viktor) Hovland, there are so many guys that can win on a weekly basis,” Sherman said. “There are some heavyweight golfers lacking on the PGA Tour right now.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.