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What's behind the WAG renaissance?

Published

7 months ago

May 22, 2025

Don’t call Kylie Kelce a WAG. The acronym for the “wives and girlfriends” of professional athletes rankles the podcaster, who first rose to fame as the wife of retired Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce. As she explains, the phrase suggests that “your spouse’s profession swallows you up as well.”

But many in the media are heralding this moment as a “new era” for WAGs, and Kelce is just one of several famous women who are at the fore of this renaissance: Everyone from TikToker Alix Earle, who is dating Miami Dolphins player Braxton Berrios, to Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles — unquestionably the more famous athlete — who is married to the Chicago Bears’ Jonathan Owens. Then there’s Taylor Swift, one of the most successful musicians on the planet, who, thanks to her relationship with Kylie’s brother-in-law Travis Kelce, has become the ultimate symbol of the new WAG.

Meanwhile, a host of lesser-known women are experiencing their first taste of fame through their relationships with tennis players, Formula 1 race-car drivers, and even pole vaulters. A sizable number have leveraged their romantic lives to receive brand deals, podcasting opportunities, and magazine profiles.

By and large, our understanding of WAGs is rapidly evolving to acknowledge their own social and economic power. They’ve transformed from tabloid punching bags to an appealing status symbol. Still, the continued use of the term does raise some complicated questions: Why are we so interested in defining these women, some of whom are independently successful, by their relationships to men? And what does it mean that they might be raking in more attention and financial opportunities than some female athletes?

The rise of the new WAG

The public’s fascination with WAGs isn’t new. The acronym originated across the pond in the early 2000s to describe the wives and girlfriends of English footballers. British tabloids and football fans alike lambasted women — celebrities in their own right — like former Girls Aloud member Cheryl Cole and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham for their partying, extravagant spending, and flashy, maximalist looks. When the England national football team lost the 2006 FIFA World Cup, their partners were blamed in the press for the defeat.

In the United States, being a WAG could be an equally dangerous public position. From Jessica Simpson to the Kardashians, they’ve been painted as distractions, attention-seekers, and bearers of bad luck.

Over the past two decades, though, a WAG has become less of an involuntary title and more of an identity that some women are willing to cultivate, given that it can come with its own rewards.

Footballer David Beckham and singer Victoria Beckham at the MOBO Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall on October 6, 1999 in London, England. — David and Victoria Beckham at the MOBO Awards on October 6, 1999. | Dave Hogan/Getty Images

This modern version of WAG-dom can be credited to early 2010s reality shows like WAGS, Basketball Wives, and La La’s Full Court Life. These platforms allowed these women — some anonymous before they entered into relationships with athletes — to craft their own public narratives and become notable personalities on their own.

For years now, Ayesha Curry, wife of Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, has modeled what it means to be a “WAG influencer,” embracing her public relationship with her spouse while building a separate career as a successful cookbook author and host.

Since then, WAG influencers have become a welcome staple of certain sports cultures. Formula 1 has exploded in recent years, with a small part of that popularity owed to the sport’s stylish other halves. Since 2017, female viewership has grown from 8 percent to 40 percent. This has been largely credited to the popular Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive, which put a spotlight on the personal lives of drivers and, naturally, their partners.

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Lily Herman, who writes the F1 newsletter Engine Failure, says that the current popularity of WAG influencers in Formula 1 can be credited to the former partners of a few young popular drivers from 2019 to 2022, like Carlos Sainz’s girlfriend Isa Hernáez and Charles Leclerc’s girlfriend Charlotte Sine, who were both featured on Drive to Survive. In 2022, Sine was the first WAG in the sport to explicitly use her access to the F1 circuit as a part of an ad campaign for the skincare brand Sunday Riley.

“They were around during an era where the sport saw a lot of growth in its younger fan base, especially among teen girls and younger women, and there was a new wave of interest in these young drivers’ personal lives,” Herman says.

These women have inspired fan pages, Tumblr accounts, and subreddits dedicated to their relationships, fashion, and rumored drama. Lately, the organization has fully embraced WAGs as recognizable supporting characters in the F1 universe, featuring them on social media and including them on chyrons during racing broadcasts.

Tennis has tried to replicate the WAG-to-influencer pipeline too, although the sport and its fans are still warming up to the presence of outside partners. Morgan Riddle, who’s dating highest-ranked American male player Taylor Fritz, has been making get-ready-with-me videos for tournaments and vlogging about her life on the tennis tour since 2022. Ayan Broomfield, a former college tennis player who’s dating Frances Tiafoe, and influencer Paige Lorenze, who’s dating Tommy Paul, have mimicked the same career path, broadcasting their lives as WAGs on social media.

Herman says that WAGs play a role in “adding dimension” to their male partners, contributing to the marketability of both. “Fritz is pretty bland as a public figure without his girlfriend,” Herman says. “She’s done way more in her work as an influencer and content creator to make him seem multidimensional than he has through solo interviews and profiles.”

It certainly benefits younger, newer WAGs who are already powerful women. Biles and Swift have joined their ranks and seem to take pride in the role. Beckham, now a successful fashion designer, has also played a role in igniting a nostalgia for WAGs, thanks to the popular 2023 Netflix docuseries Beckham.

The business of being a WAG is still very traditional

In our current political climate, the WAG boom raises interesting questions. Research shows that some Gen Z-ers are identifying as more conservative than their parents. “Trad wife” content abounds online. Where do WAGs fit in?

WAG influencers share some obvious similarities to tradwife influencers, women who’ve created lucrative identities and even businesses by perpetuating conservative ideas of marriage and motherhood. In a Substack essay, sports writer Frankie de la Cretaz argues that WAGs are essentially the tradwives of men’s sports: “No matter how many businesses a WAG starts or how many charities she runs, she still embodies a heteronormative idea of family and a woman’s place in society.”

It’s hard to get around the fact that most WAGs are initially famous for their association with a male partner, although they may ultimately transcend that attachment (see Kelce’s complaint about being called a WAG and consider that her podcast, Not Gonna Lie, briefly dethroned The Joe Rogan Experience when it debuted in 2024).

WAGs are gaining visibility while the most talented female athletes are still fighting for wage parity and struggling to land brand deals.

But even attempts to define WAGs outside of their relationships come off a bit shallow. Stories about how these women are impacting sports largely focus on their brand deals and follower counts. When we celebrate the influence of WAGs, we’re mostly talking about their ability to turn other women into consumers and spectators, not athletes.

Meanwhile, WAGs are gaining visibility while the most talented female athletes are still fighting for wage parity and struggling to land brand deals. Back in March, Australian tennis pro Daria Saville made a TikTok about the lack of sponsorships she and other female pros receive compared to tennis WAGs. “Female tennis players are not getting those brand deals,” she said. “It’s actually tennis WAGs that fit into the ‘aesthetic’ rather than, us, sweaty tennis players.”

De la Cretaz tells Vox that the WAG boom echoes the mainstream platforming of tradwives. “It’s an extension of “girlboss” feminism, the idea that promoting women regardless of what that looks like is somehow good for women,” de la Cretaz says. “It’s also this idea that whatever you’re choosing is valid, even though those choices don’t exist in a vacuum.”

The most visible WAGs are still predominantly in straight relationships, and a large part of being one still involves affirming a male athlete’s heterosexuality. As journalist Kira Cochrane wrote in a 2010 piece for The Guardian about football WAGs, “consciously or not, the women know their role is to boost their partner’s masculinity.” She added that their often highly feminized presentation “underlines [their] status as possessions, part of the package for footballers.”

WAGs, with their new clout and influence, haven’t exactly gotten a total makeover. Rather, their hustle has grown more appealing. After all, they represent all the things women are encouraged to be in a time when mainstream culture is trending more conservative. They’re tradwives. They’re girlbosses. They’re stylish and beautiful. Most of all, they’re sitting on the sidelines.

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Sugar Bowl Highlights: Ole Miss Knocks Off Georgia in CFP Sugar Bowl Thriller

Published

16 minutes ago

January 2, 2026

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Live Coverage for this has ended

12:25a ET

Georgia with a much-needed answer

11:45p ET

Ole Miss hits go-ahead field goal

11:09p ET

Ole Miss recaptures 3-point lead

11:07p ET

Ole Miss’ discipline leads to TD

10:38p ET

Georgia’s fake punt keeps drive alive

10:33p ET

Georgia returns fumble for a touchdown

10:32p ET

Kewan Lacy finds the end zone

9:18p ET

Gunner Stockton scores another rushing TD

9:12p ET

Georgia captures lead with first touchdown of the Sugar Bowl

9:07p ET

Ole Miss answers quickly

8:59p ET

Ole Miss kicker tops his own record

8:37p ET

Record-setting FG gives Ole Miss lead

Live Coverage for this began on 12:30a ET

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Dengler Domain: College Football | News, Sports, Jobs

Published

1 hour ago

January 2, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Sean Dengler.

College football is a mess. Talent is not worse, but something about the game feels off with where the sport is heading. The façade of being on scholarship was all which mattered did not make sense in comparison to when coaches started making lucrative salaries and athletic conferences began signing rich media rights deals. Being compensated for their time made sense, but the way they are being paid feels like the Wild West. With schools bidding on players, other athletes sitting out mid-season to transfer to a new team the next season, and athletes feeling like mercenaries, hopping from one team to the next.

NIL was supposed to have the athletes starring in a local car dealership advertisement. What has happened from the fan’s perspective is it feels like it has become easier to buy the best team. Using merit to succeed has fallen to the wayside while money solves the problems. This has left an unregulated, gross feeling hovering above college football. Change needs to come where athletes are paid their worth, but they also do not feel like mercenaries. The bond between players and fans from building a program instead of buying one is falling to the wayside.

The loss of regionalism in athletic conferences has also created friction. The Big Ten and the SEC started this trouble, but the ACC and Big 12 have also pushed to reach coast to coast while destroying a historic conference, PAC-12, in the process. If our grandparents’ generation found out the Hawkeyes were playing at Rutgers, and the Cyclones were playing at the University of Central Florida, they would roll over in their grave twofold.

This loss of regionalism and the mercenary aspect show the fractures Americans see in their society. Like the rest of society, and what has changed from the past is capital is king. College football has become about the bottom line. Athletes are quick to change their situation if met with a tiny bit of friction while universities sell out their fanbases to join conferences which make zero regional or numerical sense.

“Not falling behind” is the excuse given for why these decisions are being made. Change must happen because it is a different world. Society has seen this type of comment before in other parts of society. When it comes to agriculture, it was “go big or go home.” This has led to rural towns hollowing out, medical clinics closing, and churches and schools consolidating. This has all come in the name of “change was needed.” The only ones benefiting from the change are those hoarding the capital at the expense of the loss of the collectiveness everyone else enjoys from college football.

College football is also following the rest of the American economy where it forms a free market ensuring fair competition, minus athletes getting paid but this would work under the right conditions, to where a lot of markets like college football are less regulated and the one with the most capital has the best chance at succeeding. Whether having college football like this be the best for society does not matter because this is how the “market” is supposed to be. The big get bigger, the smaller get smaller, and those in the middle continue to hollow out.

Whether college sports, agriculture, or other parts of society, this is the current path. Until Americans decide to make markets about fair competition and not one decided by the few at the top, this problem will keep existing throughout society. The mess college football is in is a symptom of this bigger problem. To change, we all will need to fight for a better, more fair American society.

Sean Dengler is a writer, comedian, now-retired beginning farmer, and host of the Pandaring Talk podcast who grew up on a farm between Traer and Dysart. You can reach him at sean.h.dengler@gmail.com.

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College football’s transfer portal officially opens Jan. 2. What to know about player movement :: WRAL.com

Published

2 hours ago

January 2, 2026

Your Sports Nation

The college football season isn’t over yet and won’t be for several weeks, but the sport’s offseason, if you can even call it that, has been in full swing for quite some time — hirings, firings and players announcing they’re returning or leaving or heading to the NFL.

Many players already know where they’re headed, having worked out deals through agents with new schools. Everyone can begin making it official Jan. 2, the official start of college football’s transfer window.

Unlike in previous years, there is just one transfer window. Players will not have the opportunity to change teams later in the spring. The NCAA approved the change to a single window in October, hoping to bring a little more stability to the sport — if such a thing is possible in college football.

MORE: College football transfer portal tracker for Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State

Although schools are limited to spending $20.5 million to directly pay athletes, the cost to lure and keep any individual player continues to rise, especially for quarterbacks. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the market for top quarterbacks could reach $5 million.

Duke’s Darian Mensah was among the highest-paid quarterbacks this season, at a reported $4 million. Mensah, the ACC leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns in 2025, has said he would return to the Blue Devils for the 2026 season.

There are several high-profile quarterbacks who intend to transfer, including TCU’s Josh Hoover, Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola, Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby. NC State’s CJ Bailey could add to the list. High-profile programs like Indiana, Miami and LSU are in the market for quarterback transfers.

Despite the change to a single window, it’s not perfect. The portal is open from Jan. 2 to Jan. 16, while the College Football Playoff is happening. It closes before the national championship game. Players on those two teams can enter the portal from Jan. 20 through Jan. 24.

Players need only to enter the portal during the window. They don’t have to choose their school during that time. However, the school calendar plays a role if players want to participate in spring practice.

Players have been entering the portal – not a physical place, just a NCAA database — since the regular season wrapped up in late November.

More than a dozen North Carolina players, for example, plan to transfer from Bill Belichick’s program, including leading tackler Khmori House, standout defensive end Tyler Thompson and running back Davion Gause.

NC State running back Hollywood Smothers, an All-ACC first-team selection, skipped the team’s bowl victory over Memphis and plans to transfer or enter the NFL Draft.

Coaches signed new recruiting classes in early December without knowing exactly what spots they might need to fill.

“You take your high school class based on who you know is leaving the program, like we’ll do our seniors and things like that,” NC State coach Dave Doeren said in December. “That’s where the portal now has to supplement. You may have more attrition than you expected at a certain position and you didn’t sign as many high school players as you needed.”

Coaches led the push from the old system which had a transfer window in December (one of the busiest months of the calendar for coaches) and another in April after most programs completed spring ball. Some pushed for the single window to be in the spring, and the NCAA initially adopted a 10-day period, before extending it to 15 days.

“Every college coach would tell you that our calendar is just not in sync with the demands of what’s happening in our sport,” Doeren said. “We need to get our arms around that to make our jobs a little bit easier from a planning standpoint.”

The new single window does help with that. Rosters are locked in early in the year.

UNC made heavy use of the post-spring portal in 2025, after the mid-December 2024 hiring of head coach Bill Belichick, and lost several key players as well. Many programs have stopped holding traditional spring games, in part due to concerns that other coaches could scout those games and try to pluck players from their roster.

“The best thing about this year is that on Jan. 17, the portal will close and you’ll be able to build your team, knowing that when you go to spring ball, that is your team,” UNC general manager Michael Lombardi said. “Knowing that when you go through your offseason program, that is your team.”

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Lane Kiffin receives $500,000 payout from LSU after Ole Miss advances to College Football Playoff semifinal

Published

3 hours ago

January 2, 2026

Your Sports Nation

With Ole Miss’ Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, Lane Kiffin will receive another bonus. Per the terms of his contract at LSU, he will get the $500,000 he would have gotten from the Rebels for advancing to the College Football Playoff semifinal.

Kiffin was already set to receive a payout as a result of Ole Miss’ first-round win over Tulane. That set him up for a $250,000 payday, which was the amount he would have received from the school if he was coaching in the game. Now, that figure will go up.

After Kiffin’s high-profile departure for LSU, Pete Golding took over as Ole Miss’ full-time head coach. But the Tigers said they would include “ancillary benefits” in Kiffin’s deal with the Rebels, and that means a $500,000 payout because his former program is advancing in the CFP.

Kiffin’s high-profile departure for LSU came after Ole Miss took down Mississippi State to complete the first 11-win regular season in program history. It also helped the Rebels virtually secure a spot in the College Football Playoff, and they hosted the first-round game on Saturday.

Per the terms of Kiffin’s contract at Ole Miss, there would be two more escalators if the Rebels keep going in the CFP. His payout would increase to $750,000 if they advance to the national championship and go up to $1 million if Ole Miss wins it all. LSU vowed to pay that same amount after Kiffin’s departure prior to the postseason.

“Coach will be entitled to receive a payment in an amount equal to the amount Coach would have been entitled to receive had he remained Head Coach at Coach’s immediate prior employer and coached the prior employer’s football team through the 2025-26 CFP,” Kiffin’s contract at LSU reads. “… If applicable, the payment under this section may be paid from affiliated foundation funds and shall be paid within 30 days following the prior employer’s team being eliminated from the 2025-26 CFP.”

Ole Miss takes down Georgia in thrilling Sugar Bowl

Ole Miss and Georgia square off in a thriller at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Thursday. The two teams combined to score 30 points in the fourth quarter as the Rebels rallied to take down the Bulldogs, 39-34.

Trinidad Chambliss had a monster day, completing 30 of 46 passes for 362 yards and two touchdowns. Harrison Wallace III also had a career night, hauling in nine receptions for 156 yards and a touchdown. De’Zhaun Stribling also had a big performance with seven receptions for 122 yards.

For Golding, it marks a second straight victory as head coach after taking over for Lane Kiffin. Ole Miss will now get ready to take on Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.

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Football Transfer Portal Chaos Continues Despite New Rules

Published

4 hours ago

January 2, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Football Transfer Portal Chaos Continues Despite New Rules

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Indiana football destroys Alabama at Rose Bowl to advance to Peach Bowl

Published

5 hours ago

January 2, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Jan. 1, 2026Updated Jan. 2, 2026, 12:20 a.m. ET

PASADENA, Ca. — The singing starts early in the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl, where the clouds are rising above the San Gabriel Mountains and the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers are just destroying No. 9 Alabama. This is a 2025 College Football Playoff quarterfinal, serious business, but the IU football crowd has been having a blast, and they know what to do when this stadium in Southern California starts playing Bloomington’s John Mellencamp over the loudspeakers.

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