Taylor Swift and the Great WAG Revival

Taylor Swift, in case you haven’t heard, is dating Travis Kelce. Which means America’s sweetheart is dating the NFL’s most eligible tight end. Have two hams ever hammed it up quite like these two?

In a matter of weeks, their fling has become a bustling micro-economy. Ticket and jersey sales exploded, as did broadcast viewership. Kelce gained more than a million followers on Instagram. Ketchup kingpin Heinz did what brands love to do and jumped at the chance to release a limited edition sauce inspired by the hubbub. It took less than a day for the NFL to turn footage of Swift enjoying the game into the kind of swelling Sunday Night Football advertisement normally used to showcase top players.

Swift is not alone, though. WAGs—or the wives and girlfriends of professional sportsmen—are enjoying something of a renaissance right now. They’re on TikTok. They’re in the stands and the news. Increasingly, it seems that behind every great player is a WAG keeping their career profitable and relevant.

The most pivotal play of the Traylor season so far actually happened at the after-party for the first game Swift attended in late September. There Swift did shots and swapped numbers with fellow WAG Brittany Mahomes, the wife of star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. A week later Mahomes and Swift were spotted going out to dinner together with fellow WAGs and celebrity pals for what should be hereafter referred to as the WAG special: a $4,000 prix fixe dinner with a side of Aperol spritzes and cosmopolitans at classic New York City Italian restaurant Emilio’s Ballato. Blake Lively is rumored to have paid the tab.

It’s hard not to wonder: Has America found its very own Victoria and David Beckham in Swift and Kelce? Posh and Becks were the defining athlete–pop-star power couple of the ’90s and early ’00s, and the comparison is particularly apt given the recent release of Netflix’s Beckham documentary series, which finds England’s most famous soccer player in a reflective mood. Ostensibly the series plots the arc of Beckham’s career from Manchester United upstart to international soccer legend. What the series captures even more clearly, though, is the birth of WAG culture.

“When you have two equally charismatic people, it doubles the volume,” explains Vogue editor Anna Wintour in an early episode. “It puts the heat factor way up.”

British tabloids coined the WAG acronym to describe a very specific group of women: the wives and girlfriends of the English national soccer team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The posse was led by Victoria Beckham; Cheryl Tweedy, the then girlfriend of Ashley Cole; and Coleen McLoughlin, the then fiancée of Wayne Rooney. When the WAG class of 2006 descended on the quiet spa town of Baden-Baden to ride out the tournament, it was a spectacle the likes of which we may never see again (unless Swift and her squad step up their game).

There were long, champagne-soaked karaoke nights on the town and £57,000 shopping sprees and private jets and big hoop earrings and French manicures and heels worn with swimsuits and morning runs in full glam. It was splashy and fabulous and controversial. McLoughlin insisted on flying with her spray tanning expert in tow. Victoria Beckham was rumored to have imported 30 pairs of jeans and 60 pairs of sunglasses from Madrid. And in the stands, the women sat together.

Even as Posh Spice stood at the epicenter of pop culture, she was repeatedly made to feel, by fans and coaches alike, as though her presence in her husband’s life posed an existential threat to his career. She was a distraction, pulling him away from his duty to the country, and that disdain only intensified when England’s chances of winning the World Cup were dashed. In the documentary Victoria Beckham recalls one of the chants football fans would sing in unison.

“‘Posh Spice takes it up the ass,’” she says. “Excuse my language. Not very ladylike. But 75,000 people singing that. I mean, it’s embarrassing, it’s hurtful. I remember sitting down, and the lady next to me turned to me, she didn’t know what to say. She said, ‘Do you want a Polo?’ Do I want a Polo? What do you say when you sit next to someone and 75,000 people have been saying that you take it up the ass?”

Young British women idolized the WAGs. But when Beckham stepped out in Tom Ford–era Gucci, the designer was allegedly so distraught that he screeched, “Well, somebody stop her!” In short, WAGs weren’t liked. “Getting WAGGED” was considered kryptonite for brands because it meant becoming associated with a loud, classless, new-money stereotype.

The irony, of course, is that dating his wife not only cemented David Beckham’s place in the annals of sporting history but also marked the beginning of an even more lucrative career as a crossover star—the job he’s arguably held for longer now. Today he has the luxury of whiling away his time doing what he really loves: beekeeping.

A WAG can turn a good-to-middling player into a rising star, and a rising star into a celebrity practically overnight. That’s what happened to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo when his pop star girlfriend Jessica Simpson started showing up to games wearing a baby pink version of his jersey—a look male fans on the opposing team soon adopted.

But after the Cowboys’ 2008 losing-streak season, teammates started blaming Romo’s inconsistent playing (and the team’s implosion more broadly) on his relationship and newfound celebrity. Professional athletes are implicitly thought of as superheroes, and generally speaking, people don’t love to see their heroes humanized. Cowboy fans nicknamed Simpson “Yoko Romo.” David Letterman made her vow to stop wearing the infamous pink jersey due to superstition. Even The New York Times reported on the backlash, wondering, “Is Jessica Simpson Hurting the Dallas Cowboys?”

“I think maybe things happened so quickly for Tony in terms of obscurity to all of a sudden national spotlight that he hasn’t fully grasped what being the Cowboys quarterback is all about,” former Cowboys QB Troy Aikman said during an interview on Michael Irvin’s radio program. “And you don’t go to Cabo the week before a playoff game. You just don’t do it.” (Famously, Romo and Simpson vacationed in Cabo San Lucas during the bye week before the 2008 NFL playoffs).

“It didn’t take away from his preparations,” Aikman added of Romo. “I know that. I mean, everything he says is I think accurate. I don’t think that had any bearing…. But to say, ‘I don’t worry about perception,’ you better worry about perception, because it’s a big part of making it through some very difficult times.”

Clearly, dating an athlete isn’t all manicures and Moët. Sometimes it means sidelining your own hopes and dreams, and often it means taking on the lion’s share of childcare and household duties to compensate for how much time your partner spends on the road. As LeBron James told Vogue in 2017, his wife, Savannah, runs the show as it pertains to their three kids.

“I’m gone a lot, so she is the boss of the household; she’s the rule setter,” he said.

And then, of course, you have all the gossip and heightened scrutiny to contend with. WAGs often find themselves marrying into fandoms that are openly hostile to women. Long before their eventual divorce, Gisele Bündchen was routinely depicted as desperate for her prolific quarterback husband Tom Brady to retire—a narrative the supermodel agreed was sexist, though not entirely without basis, during an interview with Elle.

“Obviously, I have my concerns—this is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present,” she said. “I have definitely had those conversations with him over and over again. But ultimately, I feel that everybody has to make a decision that works for [them].”

Ayesha Curry, wife to Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, certainly knows a thing or two about sexist backlash. NBA fans still haven’t forgiven her for confessing, during an appearance on Red Table Talk, that watching women fawn over her husband makes her long to have the same kind of attention from men. It shouldn’t be wrong or radical to acknowledge that insecurity, and yet Ayesha’s vulnerable admission was repeatedly used to imply that she’s not faithful, grateful, or servile enough to her husband.

Gabrielle Union, who is married to retired basketball star Dwyane Wade, takes a ton of flack from fans for, um, literally just talking about her life, including her finances, her stance on rimming, and her vocal support of her stepdaughter’s transition. There is a sense among NBA fans that Union is simply too much—a criticism she shares with Brittany Mahomes. Last year public dislike of Mahomes came to a head when a video of her popping a bottle of champagne went viral. In the infamous clip, posted by brother-in-law Jackson Mahomes, Mahomes sprays the champagne over fans on a chilly night after the Chiefs’ win against the Buffalo Bills in January 2022—a victory that’s been likened to the Super Bowl of the NFL playoffs. The Netflix documentary series Quarterback portrays Mahomes as a grounding force for her husband, but there is a lingering sense, for some fans, that her outspokenness and overcelebrating have tainted her husband’s personal brand.

“I was not prepared for this,” Mahomes said in a joint interview with her husband on CBS This Morning. “And at such a young age. We were in love, and I loved him with all of my heart. But, you know, I didn’t expect it to skyrocket this soon, and us kind of just being thrown into the fire like this.

“When I started posting on Instagram me screaming and getting rowdy in the suite,” she continued. “I think the first time I did that it got blown up—and it’s like, ‘She’s crazy, this is too much.’”

The WAGs the public tends to despise the most are the ones they perceive as trying to capitalize on success and fame they didn’t rightfully earn. Many also assume Mahomes is a career WAG, having met and been with her husband since high school. But Mahomes is a talented athlete too. She was a former soccer standout who now owns a professional women’s soccer league called the Kansas City Current, and she celebrates like a competitor because she is one. And what’s the difference, really, between a wife and a teammate?

The ubiquity of Traylor means we’re probably about 45 seconds away from the inevitable backlash. In fact, it’s already begun. New York Giants fans booed when the Swift ad came on during Monday Night Football in the same stadium where Blondie had sat only a day prior.

But there are signs of a growing recognition that having a baddie by your side could enhance a player’s standing, on and off the field. Influencer Morgan Riddle was recently dubbed “the most famous woman in men’s tennis,” having made a splash at the US Open and Wimbledon as top American player Taylor Fritz’s better, blonder half. The two met on private dating app Raya at the height of the pandemic, and Riddle now spends most of the year on the road with Fritz, documenting her life as a tennis WAG for a growing fandom all her own.

Fritz’s ranking has risen from 24th to 9th over the course of their relationship—an improvement he credits in part to the healthy eating and sleeping routines Riddle has helped him uphold.

“If his ranking had gone down, they’d say it’s my fault,” she acknowledged to the Times. But it became a lot harder for skeptics to question her place in—and value to—the sport’s future after Wimbledon hired Riddle to host a street-style video series for the tournament called “Wimbledon Threads.”

“This is the coolest thing,” one comment gushes beneath the series’ first episode. “I literally LOVE what Morgan is doing for the sport!!!”

There’s an interesting reversal of power between WAG and athlete in some of these relationships. Fritz and Riddle are merely one example. Approachable NFL WAG Allison Kucharczyk is so beloved on TikTok that her fame may soon eclipse that of her husband, Las Vegas Raiders defensive end and avowed wife guy Isaac Rochell. WAGTok also gained another buzzy member recently in mega-influencer Alix Earle, who finally revealed the “sexy NFL man” she’s been dating is Braxton Berrios of the Miami Dolphins.

Perhaps we’re finally coming around to the idea that WAGs provide something priceless to the players and teams they represent: relevancy. After all, no one gets to play ball forever. In some ways, the best thing a professional athlete can do for their career (and the longevity of it) is have a partner who can stand in the spotlight with rather than behind them; someone whose intrigue and influence bolsters their own.

Following the Traylor hoopla, Donna Kelce—mother to Travis as well as his football-playing brother, Jason—said she received a phone call from the NFL.

“I can tell you this, that they’ve told me personally that the Kelce family has done more good PR for football than they could’ve paid a million dollars to a PR firm,” she recalled during an appearance on the Got It From My Momma podcast.

And I hate to disagree. I’ll just say this: Taylor and Travis are rumored to be dressing up for Heidi Klum’s Halloween bash as Barbie and Ken, the iconic doll duo at the heart of this summer’s blockbuster hit. And no other couples’ costume could be more fitting.

The trick of the Barbie movie is that director Greta Gerwig lets you think it’s about Ken and his feminist awakening. But really, it’s been Barbie's story all along.