Kelce brothers clashing in Super Bowl LVII is a rarity in pro sports

For the first time in NFL history, a set of brothers will compete against each other on football's biggest stage, the Super Bowl.

Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles will take their sibling rivalry to Super Bowl LVII to battle it out at State Farm Stadium in Arizona on Feb. 12.

This is Jason's second career Super Bowl appearance after taking the title in 2017 when his Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl LII.

The 35-year-old centre is in his 12th NFL season, all with the Eagles. He has been selected to six Pro-Bowl teams, and is one of eight centres in NFL history to have five first-team All-Pro selections.

Travis is making his third Super Bowl appearance after his Chiefs reached the big game in back-to-back seasons in 2019 and 2020 and is looking for his second victory.

The 33-year-old tight end had 43 receiving yards with a touchdown in Super Bowl LIV as the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 in 2019 in Miami.

Kansas City failed to repeat as champions the following year as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated them 31-9 in Super Bowl LV and became the first team to capture the Lombardi Trophy on their home field in Tampa.

The younger Kelce brother is considered to be one of the best tight ends in the NFL with his 1,338 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns this season.

In his 10-season career, Travis has 10,344 receiving yards with 69 touchdowns, putting him in the conversation as one of the best tight ends of all-time.

The battle of brothers on the biggest stage is a rarity in professional sports. In the NHL, brothers have faced off against each other three times for the Stanley Cup in modern history, twice in MLB's World Series, and it has never happened in the NBA Finals.

Here are some brother versus brother playoff series at the highest levels of their sport.

2003 Stanley Cup Final: Scott Niedermayer (New Jersey Devils) vs. Rob Niedermayer (Anaheim Mighty Ducks)

Scott Niedermayer and the New Jersey Devils faced off against his brother Rob Niedermayer and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the 2003 Stanley Cup Final.

The elder Niedermayer, Scott, was in Year 12 of an 18-season Hockey Hall of Fame career where he had already won two Stanley Cups with the Devils in 1995 and 2000 prior to the 2003 Final. He would later go on to win two more Stanley Cups along with a Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy while being named a three-time first-team all-star.

Rob was in his 10th season in the NHL and on his third different team after being traded to the Mighty Ducks from the Calgary Flames for defenceman Mike Commodore and goaltender Jean-Francois Damphousse. The matchup against his brother was his first Stanley Cup Final.

The Devils finished second in the Eastern Conference with 108 points and dispatched the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Ottawa Senators easily en route to the Stanley Cup Final. Meanwhile the Mighty Ducks finished seventh in the Western Conference with 95 points and scraped and clawed their way past the Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars, and Minnesota Wild and into the final on the back of goaltender Jean-Sebastian Guigere's superb play in net.

In the Stanley Cup Final, both teams won all their home games leading the Devils to win the series over the Mighty Ducks in seven games and giving Scott his third championship. Scott registered five assists and was a plus-8 in the seven games while Rob had two assists and a minus-5 in the series.

Four years later, Rob would get his Stanley Cup ring when his brother joined him in Anaheim and defeated the Senators in five games in the 2007 Stanley Cup Final.

The other instances of brothers facing each other in the Stanley Cup Final was when Ken Reardon's Montreal Canadiens defeated Terry Reardon's Boston Bruins in five games in 1946 and when Tiny Thompson's Bruins defeated Paul Thompson's New York Rangers in a two-game sweep in 1929.

Prior to the NHL taking full control of the Stanley Cup in the 1926-27 season, the trophy was awarded in a playoff tournament between the champions of the NHL, Western Canada Hockey League, and Pacific Coast Hockey League for a period of time. In 1923, two sets of brothers faced each other when Cy Denneny and George Boucher's Senators took on Corb Denneny and Frank Boucher's Vancouver Maroons as part of the tournament.

1964 World Series: Ken Boyer (St. Louis Cardinals) vs. Clete Boyer (New York Yankees)

Brothers have faced each other eight times in the postseason, most recently when Aaron Nola's Philadelphia Phillies beat Austin Nola's San Diego Padres in five games in last year's National League Championship Series.

In the World Series, it's happened four times with the most recent being when Ken Boyer's St. Louis Cardinals took on Clete Boyer's New York Yankees in the 1964 World Series.

Ken's Cardinals had a surprising comeback to win the National League pennant with a 93-69 record after being behind the Phillies by six and a half games with 12 games remaining.

The star third baseman won the National League MVP that season batting .295 with 24 home runs and 119 RBIs and was named to his seventh all-star appearance.

Clete's Yankees won the American League pennant with a 99-63 record. The third baseman batted .218 with eight home runs and 52 RBIs in 147 games.

The Cardinals got the better of the Yankees by beating them in seven games to win the 1964 World Series. The Boyer brothers made history in Game 7 becoming the first brothers on opposite teams to each hit a home run in the same World Series game.

Ken Boyer batted .222 with two home runs and six RBIs in the seven-game series while Clete hit .208 with one home run and three RBIs.

Between 1921-1923, Bob Meusel's Yankees battled Irish Meusel's New York Giants in the World Series, marking the first time brothers faced each other in the championship round.

Irish got the better of his brother, winning the Series in 1921 and 1922, but Bob got his victory in 1923.

2019 Western Conference Finals: Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) vs. Seth Curry (Portland Trail Blazers)

No siblings have ever faced off against each other in the NBA Finals, but in 2019, the Curry brothers made history by becoming the first set of brothers to battle it out in an NBA conference final.

Stephen Curry was already well on his way to a hall of fame career in 2019 as a two-time MVP and three-time NBA champion with his Golden State Warriors. In the regular season he averaged 27.3 point, 5.2 assists, and 5.3 rebounds in the regular season.

The Warriors finished first in the Western Conference with a 57-25 record and defeated the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets to reach the West Final. However, their path didn't come without a loss after star forward Kevin Durant suffered an Achilles injury during Game 5 of their second-round series with the Rockets. Durant briefly came back in Game 5 of the NBA Final but ended up tearing his Achilles, which sidelined him for the entire 2019-20 season.

Seth Curry's career up to this point was one of a journeyman NBA veteran who was on his sixth NBA team in five years. The 6-foot-2 guard was coming back from a left tibia fracture that had him sidelined for the entire 2017-18 season. With the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2018-19 season he averaged 7.9 points and 1.6 rebounds off the bench in 74 games.

The Trail Blazers finished third in the Western Conference with a 53-29 record and defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets to face the Warriors in the West Finals.

Stephen averaged 36.5 points with 7.3 assists and 8.3 rebounds as the Warriors completed a four-game sweep of the Trail Blazers to move onto the NBA Finals to face the Eastern Conference champion Toronto Raptors. Seth averaged 6.3 points with 2.3 rebounds ad 1.5 assists in the four losses.

In the final, the Warriors ran out of gas against the Raptors where they would fall to the lone-Canadian franchise in six games.

Super Bowl XLVII: John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens) vs. Jim Harbaugh (San Francisco 49ers)

While no brothers have ever played against each other in a Super Bowl prior to this year, brothers have coached against each other in one championship game.

Super Bowl XLVII was dubbed the "Har-bowl" when John Harbaugh's Baltimore Ravens took on Jim Harbaugh's San Francisco 49ers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

John's Ravens won the AFC North with a 10-6 record and defeated the Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, and New England Patriots to gain their spot in the Super Bowl.

Jim's 49ers won the NFC West with an 11-4-1 record and dispatched the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons to set up the sibling coaching duel.

In a game that threw out all the stops, including a 34-minute power-outage, John was victorious as his Ravens defeated Jim's 49ers 34-31 to win his first Super Bowl.