NFL Wives Find Support System at Super Bowl Ladies Lounge

It was Saturday in a balmy New Orleans, and Jennifer Slay, the spouse of Darius Slay Jr., a cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles, was at a celebration within the French Quarter, hugging and greeting a crowd of girls whose husbands additionally play skilled soccer, some for the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs.

On Sunday evening within the Superdome, their husbands will face one another within the Tremendous Bowl.

“It’s at all times like, , ‘Hey, who’s going to win?’” she mentioned.

However on this room, at this second, these girls weren’t Ms. Slay’s rivals, they had been her buddies and her help system.

A D.J. performed hip-hop whereas friends in Mardi Gras beads line danced in the midst of the room or huddled on couches chatting in teams.

“If you end up with the opposite wives, you’re feeling like you’ll be able to relate to one another and be so comfy round one another,” Ms. Slay mentioned. “These girls are wonderful, and all of us empower each other.”

Different high-profile wives and girlfriends have been noticed collectively round New Orleans this weekend. On Friday evening, Taylor Swift and Brittany Mahomes dined with their companions, Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, at Lilette, a French restaurant on New Orleans’s fashionable Journal Road.

Ms. Slay was standing with about 50 girls upstairs at Felipe’s Mexican Taqueria at an occasion thrown by the Nationwide Soccer Wives Affiliation, a membership group for companions of present and retired gamers.

The affiliation began as a personal Fb group, the place the companions of soccer gamers confided in each other and requested for recommendation about N.F.L.-related points. The group now has an Instagram account with greater than 40,000 followers, and has began assembly in particular person to attach, develop expertise and supply help.

“It’s arduous sufficient to be a spouse or girlfriend to any man, not to mention a soccer participant,” mentioned Amber Staples, the president of the N.F.W.A. who’s married to Justin Staples, a retired defensive lineman. “We have now the challenges of navigating the N.F.L., which in itself are large. Then, in case you get moved and go to a brand new metropolis, who do you name?”

The affiliation now places on occasions in about six cities throughout the nation, the place individuals can bond and unwind, and hope to double that quantity subsequent yr. It additionally hosts an annual convention that gives mentorship on a wide range of subjects equivalent to find out how to present psychological and monetary help after a participant retires from skilled soccer.

“My husband went right into a despair for 2 years after he retired,” Ms. Staples mentioned. “He sat at house on a sofa.”

“While you lose your identification, it appears like you’re dropping your complete life,” she added. “These guys had been enjoying soccer as youngsters their entire lives, after which they retire at an age when everybody else is constructing their careers.”

The actual gathering, known as the Tremendous Bowl Girls Lounge, was an opportunity to chill out throughout what many mentioned felt like an particularly eventful Tremendous Bowl weekend.

A taco bar was arrange at the back of one room, and bartenders poured frozen margaritas and served fresh-squeezed mimosas.

“The environment right here is approach completely different,” Ms. Slay mentioned. “It is a celebration metropolis, prefer it’s wild. There’s something happening each road.”

At a station the place friends might add stickers to Tremendous Bowl merchandise, Amina Smith, a commentator for ESPN and the spouse of Deon Bush, a security for the Chiefs, was adorning a sweatshirt that mentioned “Chiefs Vs. All people” and had her husband’s quantity, 26.

“I haven’t slept for every week,” she mentioned, laughing, including this celebration was a welcome break. “It’s arduous to speak to people who find themselves not on this life and clarify to them what we expertise, so it’s good we’re collectively.”

One challenges is a brighter highlight, which can be a results of Ms. Swift’s entry into the N.F.L.

“We positively get extra consideration now,” Ms. Smith mentioned. “I believe it has form of grown over time, and other people see us as — not simply with gamers — however individuals who even have our personal lives.”

Alison Gore, the spouse of Eddie Jackson, a security for the Los Angeles Chargers, mentioned she loves being round girls with related every day experiences.

“For six months, it’s about our males, by no means about us,” she mentioned. “A variety of us have youngsters, and we put ourselves final.”

“There are these psychological issues that no person ever is aware of about,” she added. “Like, they get injured in follow or they’ve one thing irritating occur in a gathering or within the locker room. After they come house we’ve to convey help and peace into their days.”

The celebration, she mentioned, was a possibility to bathe the opposite wives and companions with appreciation.

“We’d like help to help our husbands,” Ms. Gore mentioned. “If we’re good, they’re good.”