Travis Kelce has dabbled in a number of business ventures over the years, including starting a successful podcast with brother Jason and opening a steakhouse with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Having grown up loving theme parks and visiting amusement parks like Cedar Point (which was later acquired by the Six Flags Corporation), Kelce decided to mix business with nostalgia last year, teaming up with hedge fund Jana Partners in 2025 to invest in and promote Six Flags Entertainment.

But that decision might be one that the Kansas City Chiefs tight end is questioning, as investors are pushing for a sale to prevent further losses. The Six Flags theme park has long since been plagued by low attendance and debt. 

According to a September 22, 2026, report by The Wall Street Journal, the corporation saw a disappointing second quarter this year, with just 13.1 million visitors compared to last year’s 14.2 million. This showed a 7% drop in attendance and a whopping $202.6 million loss, which is almost double the $99.6 million loss the corporation suffered in the second quarter last year. 

This sharp drop is not happening in a vacuum, but Six Flags is taking a harder hit than its competitors. While big destination resorts like Disney and Universal have managed to bounce back after the pandemic by raising ticket prices and attracting high-spending vacationers, regional theme parks are struggling.

Post-pandemic inflation has made middle-class families cut back on weekend trips, and severe summer weather has kept people away. On top of that, Six Flags is crushed by over $5 billion in corporate debt coming out of its recent merger, leaving it very little cash to invest in new, shiny attractions to draw crowds back.

“At the time, the activist was pushing Six Flags to make a range of changes, including improving its marketing and the experience at its parks, and modernizing its technology. It also suggested refreshing leadership and evaluating a potential sale,” stated the Wall Street Journal report about the investment group’s 2025 plans for the corporation.

While Six Flags posted a massive $202.6 million corporate loss in Q2 2026 alone, the investment group itself holds a 9 percent stake that was originally valued at $200 million when Kelce and Jana Partners bought in back in 2025, a value that has now taken a direct hit. 

“Excited to partner with JANA Partners as an investor in Six Flags. So crazy to even imagine this is real, but you gotta love it when life comes full circle,” Kelce said, back in 2025. 

But Six Flags stock was worth about $12.43 per share on Wednesday, having fallen by approximately 50% from its yearly high at around $25. The corporation has already sold seven of its parks to EPR Properties for around $331 million, and closed the Six Flags America and Hurricane Harbor parks in Maryland.

However, those dealings don’t seem to have improved the situation much. According to reports by the Journal, insiders revealed that hedge fund Jana Partners met with the Six Flags board on Tuesday on behalf of the activist investment group that includes Kelce, urging directors to hire an investment bank immediately to arrange a sale before the $1.26 billion company loses even more value.

Pushing for a forced sale at this moment is a high-risk gamble for Kelce and his partners. When a company sells off assets at a deeply discounted value, equity investors sit at the back of the line behind heavy debt lenders.

If Six Flags gets sold today while the stock is down 50 percent, Kelce and Jana Partners face a massive write-down on their initial buy-in. In a worst-case scenario, selling the company under heavy debt could virtually wipe out the remaining value of their original $200 million stake.

Besides, the lack of visits and financial losses are just the tip of the iceberg for Six Flags. 

Six Flags faces legal trouble as multiple lawsuits question safety measures

According to a September 23 report by Independent, three new lawsuits have been filed against Six Flags, claiming that the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California had caused park visitors to suffer “catastrophic brain damage”.

“With 360° rotating seats and head-first, face-down drops, X2 is downright scary,” the description for the X2 roller coaster on the official Six Flags website reads. “Feel your sense of direction disappear as you fly through an unreal assortment of dives, flips and twists plus two ultra-rare “raven turns” — half loops that change their minds midway and become sheer drops. To make things even better, your 360° seat extends on wings far off the track, so your body will be flipping around the entire time.”

This follows reports from August 2026, when two women complained that they had suffered head injuries after repeatedly hitting their head against the headrest while riding the roller coaster in July.

The contraption also garnered scrutiny after emergency services responded to an unconscious rider on the X2 in July 2026, adding to the number of alarming incidents associated with the park’s iconic roller coaster.