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As he waited for a call from his agent in September, Isaac Rochell, a professional football player looking for a team, watched the National Football League’s opening weekend games on television with his infant daughter. His wife needed a baby sitter.
Allison Kucharczyk, Rochell’s wife and an online influencer with more than three million TikTok followers, was closer to the field than he was thanks to a partnership with NBC Sports. She was crisscrossing continents on a private jet with other content creators to document a weekend of rowdy tailgates, concession food and stadium environments at N.F.L. games in Kansas City, Mo.; São Paulo, Brazil; and Detroit.
By documenting her lifestyle as a professional athlete’s wife, Kucharczyk has become more famous than Rochell, who reached the highest level of his sport but never became a household name. When together in public, Rochell said, people sometimes ask for Kucharczyk’s autograph instead of his.
“It doesn’t hurt my ego — I’m excited for her — but it was crazy,” said Rochell, a defensive lineman who has played for four N.F.L. teams in seven seasons.
As the N.F.L. and its media partners court more female viewers, they are increasingly aligning with the wives and girlfriends of players. (The partnership of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift was inescapable last season.) They hope that prospective fans who are uninterested in sports jargon and players battering one another on the field might instead respond to clothing ensembles and glamorized experiences in luxury suites.
“When women see me sharing about the N.F.L., they’re finally like, ‘Wow I can actually be interested in this other than just stats,’” Kucharczyk, 29, said. “I think there’s a place for everybody within sports.”
She added, “You don’t have to be a big name for people to be invested in your story.”
Rochell, 29, played college football at Notre Dame and was a seventh-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017. While he fought to stay on teams’ rosters for several seasons, he also was active on their social media channels, regularly volunteering for projects. He proposed to Kucharczyk, whom he met at a college party, while they were recording a Chargers podcast in 2020.
“If you spend five minutes with Allison and Isaac together, you see their chemistry and how genuine they are,” said Jason Lavine, the Chargers’ senior vice president for brand creative and content. “That type of relationship is something you want to highlight on your feed.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, the couple posted regularly on TikTok. Rochell took viewers behind the scenes of N.F.L. routines, including the buffet-style food that players eat the night before games. Many of Kucharczyk’s posts displayed the less glamorous side of Rochell’s nomadic career, such as living apart and packing to move cities — Indianapolis, Cleveland, Las Vegas — whenever he switched teams.
While nine months pregnant, Kucharczyk, who had worked as an interior designer, told followers that she had sobbed when the Las Vegas Raiders released Rochell in November 2023, weeks before her due date. Kucharczyk, who acknowledges that they have financial resources not available to everyone, says the online community she fostered helped her through their chaotic moments.
“I think sharing makes me feel less alone,” she said.
As the couple’s social presence grew, the N.F.L. noticed. The league sent Rochell a jersey with a “Mr. Kuch” nameplate and Kucharczyk was a red-carpet correspondent at a Super Bowl event last year. The couple also participated in a voter registration campaign with former President Barack Obama.
“In this next generation of content creators, they understand how they both can be successful and what they need to do to support each other,” said Ian Trombetta, the N.F.L.’s senior vice president for social, influencer and content marketing.
British tabloids coined the acronym “WAG” (wives and girlfriends) two decades ago to refer to the partners of soccer players, and several famous football players have had equally famous spouses. The supermodel Gisele Bündchen was a public advocate for Tom Brady before their 13-year marriage ended in 2022, and the singer Ciara married the quarterback Russell Wilson in 2016.
But it was Swift’s relationship with Kelce that ignited a new level of interest.
Kristin Juszczyk, the wife of the San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, started a clothing line this month after designing outerwear for Swift and the Olympic gymnast Simone Biles (who is married to the Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens). Fox Sports recorded a segment this season with Alix Earle, a TikTok influencer with seven million followers who is dating the Miami Dolphins receiver Braxton Berrios. And this month, Netflix will release a series, “W.A.G.s to Riches,” that follows the significant others of athletes and entertainers, including Keeta Hill, the wife of the Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill.
Rochell never got that call from his agent, but he is still training in hopes that an N.F.L. team will sign him. Even if he has to retire, the league said it will continue to work with the couple.
“It’s actually easier because he’ll have more time,” Trombetta said with a laugh.
