CLEVELAND, Ohio – Super Bowl champion and long-time Cedar Point fan Travis Kelce is teaming up with an activist investment firm to try to revive the amusement park’s parent company.
Jana Partners announced Tuesday that it had partnered with Kelce, a Cleveland Heights native, along with consumer executive Glenn Murphy and technology executive Dave Habiger, in an investment in Six Flags, the parent company of Cedar Point, Kings Island and dozens of other amusement and water parks across North America.
As of Tuesday, the Jana group now owns 9% of Six Flags.
According to a press statement, the group plans to engage with Six Flags’ management and board “regarding opportunities to enhance shareholder value and improve the guest experience.”
Six Flags spokesman Gary Rhodes said the company looked forward to engaging with the new investors.
“We appreciate the perspectives of shareholders and take their feedback seriously as we continue to advance our initiatives to increase attendance, enhance our guest experience and drive profitable growth and shareholder value,” he said in a statement.
Six Flags, which merged with Cedar Fair in 2024, has had a tough year, with steep attendance and revenue declines through June, coupled with talk about selling off parks.
Related: What’s next for Six Flags? Cedar Point parent faces park sell-off, possible bankruptcy
The company’s stock price has been down more than 50% since the merger. However, it rallied Tuesday after the Jana-Kelce announcement, closing at $26.34, up 21% for the day.
Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, is engaged to pop superstar Taylor Swift.
In a post on social media, Kelce said he “couldn’t pass up the opportunity to continue the tradition and make Cedar Point and Six Flags even more special for the next generation of families.”
He added, “So crazy to even imagine this is real, but you gotta love it when life comes full circle.”
On his New Heights podcast in 2023, Kelce reminisced with brother Jason about summer trips to Cedar Point when they were kids. In that podcast, the two debated which of Cedar Point’s many roller coasters are best – with Jason favoring Millennium Force and Travis voicing support for Raptor.
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