Athletes' spouses growing in popularity, in part to social media, researchers say

Fakiha Baig · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jun 01, 2025 3:23 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 1

A caller concern successful a historical downtown Edmonton gathering is generating immoderate large buzz.

Several societal media influencers precocious walked a reddish carpet starring into Bar Trove and the Trove Living furnishings showroom for a media circuit up of its June 6 opening. They ate oysters and sipped cocktails arsenic a DJ played euphony and information guards stood outside.

The pistillate down the venture, seen astatine the lawsuit clad successful a glittery pinkish dress, is Lauren Kyle McDavid, the woman of Edmonton Oilers skipper Connor McDavid.

"To person this star's woman putting wealth into our metropolis and investing successful our metropolis is truly special," said Quinn Phillips, a spokeswoman for the Edmonton Downtown Business Association and a erstwhile sports reporter.

"Everything is benignant of buzzing present successful downtown."

WATCH | Lauren Kyle McDavid bringing caller beingness to historical building: 

Kyle McDavid was not instantly disposable for an interview, but she is 1 of respective modern WAGs — an acronym for wives and girlfriends — making names for themselves.

Judy Liao, who teaches sociology of athletics and sex studies astatine the University of Alberta, says the buzz Kyle McDavid's concern has been getting online shows however overmuch of an involvement radical instrumentality successful the lives of athletes' important others.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, sports wives saw their societal media followers spell up arsenic they began posting more, Liao says. The fashionable streaming work Netflix has besides created shows pursuing the lives of WAGs successful caller years.

"The resurgence of WAGs is truly due to the fact that of societal media."

Liao says the WAG inclination archetypal became fashionable successful the aboriginal 2000s.

"[Soccer star] David Beckham is simply a cardinal idiosyncratic to deliberation astir successful this improvement due to the fact that his woman is Posh Spice," she says, referring to British vocalist Victoria Beckham of the Spice Girls.

"After they started dating, they officially entered their popular civilization personage status. Posh Spice was already a celebrity. They became truthful iconic, recognizable, truthful visible, it becomes not conscionable astir shot oregon shot anymore."

Demand for much details connected their manner went up arsenic tabloid magazines chased them astir and gathered details that made the mates premier subjects of media gossip, Liao said.

"It was the modern fairy tale. The communicative is truthful enticing," she said.

The epoch was antithetic from today, she says, arsenic the Beckhams didn't merchandise details astir their manner connected their own.

Fast-forward to 2025, and WAGs are gaining visibility with societal media and online contented created by the influencers themselves, Liao says. Most of the resurgence has been successful the United States, but Canada isn't immune to the trend.

Stephanie LaChance, who is joined to Toronto Maple Leafs prima guardant Mitch Marner, is often the taxable of headlines.

In the United States, popular prima Taylor Swift has been labelled the eventual WAG successful quality headlines for her narration with Kansas City Chiefs shot subordinate Travis Kelce.

Liao says immoderate athletics sociologists person been calling Swift the "Yoko Ono of the NFL" due to the fact that of however galore women she has attracted to the game.

Unlike the Beckhams, Liao says modern WAGs tin power their narratives and thin to blend societal media posts astir sports with entries astir their lives.

"Social media is simply a truly important spot to conception and amusement radical themselves arsenic a person, not conscionable a profession," she says.

Young fans of McDavid who are avid societal media users are blessed to travel WAGs, she adds.

Cheri Bradish, manager of the Future of Sport Lab, says Kyle McDavid's fame is an absorbing lawsuit study.

"Lauren is precise progressive connected societal media," Bradish says. "There were galore videos of her wedding, which Vogue covered."

She has besides posted astir the interior plan steadfast she founded, Kyle & Co Design Studio, and regularly shares photos of the apparel she develops for Sports Club Atelier with Oilers branding.

Bradish says Kyle McDavid's ties to the NHL person helped her monetize her work.

"Social media has truly created opportunities, and it's not surprising," Bradish says. "She's a portion of this full assemblage and full manufacture of influencers."

Bradish besides saw the WAG resurgence truly instrumentality disconnected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The sports industry, and athletes successful particular, needed to fig retired ways to talk with fans and consumers," she says.

But Brandish has mixed feelings astir however trendy they've become.

Some WAGs similar Kyle McDavid person utilized their relationships arsenic leverage, but Brandish says she should besides beryllium commended for her idiosyncratic individuality and nonrecreational inheritance successful interior plan and business.

"The bigger representation here, successful an authentic way, is that societal media has truly created opportunities. This involvement from consumers successful the WAG communicative is truly powerful."

"The rising of WAGs is 1 large origin for that."