Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe Say It’d Be Awkward If They Didn’t Discuss Their Relationship on New Podcast

After years of competing in the Olympics, power couple Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe were finally able to soak in the Games this summer without the demanding schedule they were used to while playing in their respective sports. With a brand-new POV on the Olympics, Bird and Rapinoe loved their time as first-time spectators in Paris.

Paris might have been chalked up as a relaxing baecation, but these two rarely relax. Bird, a four-time WNBA champion and five-time Olympic medalist, and her fiancée Rapinoe, an Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Cup winner, are now combining forces in the business and media world, starting with a newly launched podcast and partnership with Sonos.

We sat down with the engaged couple to talk about Olympic schedules, Jay-Z, their A Touch More with Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe podcast, and more.

West: You two are very fluent in pop culture and I know music plays a big role in both of your everyday lives. Talk to me about the new Sonos Ace headphones and why this partnership felt right.

Sue: I think it came together perfectly for the both of us. And anytime we can do something together that fits for both of us, it’s a no-brainer. For me personally, it’s traveling. So anytime I’m traveling and listening to music or I’m watching a show, that time is sacred to me. It really is a perfect natural partnership.

Megan: We live in New York now, so you just walk everywhere, so I just have ’em on all the time. It’s nice. Just a little soundtrack to my walks and it can deaden the wildness of the city sometimes. Just put it on and it’s a little bit more chill.

West: Have you guys always been over-the-ear listeners or did you graduate from pods to the big dogs?

Sue: I’ve gone back and forth a little bit. For me, it’s actually an indirect relationship to my hair. I used to wear my hair up a lot, pretty much 24/7, and I didn’t like the over-the-head because it would mess up my ponytail. I’d have to redo my hair. But now that my hair’s curly and wild, I’m so much more open to it.

Megan: Yeah, I kind of go back and forth, but I like the overheads a lot. It’s just especially when you travel, I feel like I can kind of just go into my own world and escape a little bit.

Sue: Yeah, people know when you have over-the-heads on that you aren’t feeling super talkative always. And especially on a plane, that’s nice. It’s nice to just kind of go into your world.

West: You guys just launched a podcast, which is super exciting! A big part of the podcast aesthetic now is having headphones on. Are bringing the Sonos Aces also into play for this?

Sue: We actually did a little bit of a record in Paris as well, like a little add-on. We haven’t had to actually use headphones yet. I think we’re trial-and-error right now. But listen, the best part about the Sonos ones for me, personally, is the comfort. It really is comfortable and I think especially if you have earrings, that can always be a little bit of an issue for over-the-head. And then all the little features are right at your fingertips. But for me it’s always about, clearly with my hair, my ears, it’s always about the comfort of it and that’s what I love most about these.

Megan: And they look cool. So if you look cool, then you play cool. It’s gotta look like a cool podcast and then people listen to your podcast.

West: Do we want it to just be you two? Are you going to bring in guests?

Megan: Yeah, it’s going to be both. It’s not like a show, but we’ll have guests all the time and then it’ll be us kind of running things down. We definitely want it to be a sort of intersection of obviously sports, culture, fashion, and politics. It will kind of be everything. We feel like women’s sports always touches everything just because of the nature of who we are and there’s a lot of podcasts out there, but there’s not a lot of good ones that talk about women’s sports. So we hope to put a little bit more nuance and just share our experience. The length of our careers I think gives us this long view of coming from a place where women’s sports has grown so much and where we are now and there’s a lot of new people coming, so it’s not only telling them how it’s been, but also educating them on why things are the way they are and then sort of the intersection of all that. So we’re excited to hopefully break down… and be funny.

West: Are you going to touch relationship topics or is that off-limits?

Megan: Oh yeah, for sure on the table.

Sue: We can’t avoid it. Yeah, it happened right in front of you. To avoid it would be difficult, but also just awkward. It’d be like elephant-in-the-room stuff—so no, we’re trying to. We definitely want to bring our dynamic to it because I think that’s such a big part of what you’ll be listening to. We kind of have some segments that started back in the pandemic, like the actual origin stories that we just got on IG live, because what the hell was anyone doing during the pandemic? Everyone was obviously locked down and I think if you were in any kind of, not just an intimate relationship, but it could have been your parent, your sibling—you were getting into fights all the time, unavoidable little stuff. So we brought that to the pod and we want to continue to do that, share our lives and talk about it.

West: On the subject of personal lives, you guys are clearly busy individuals. Do you have any plans to get back into your respective sports in a more professional capacity, whether that is coaching or front office or anything like that? Or are you very focused on just growing your brands and staying fluent in the media world?

Megan: I think for me, I feel like I want to get away from it a little bit because it’s like whether you are a GM or owner or a coach, it just takes so much time and you kind of have to be solely focused on that. And I think doing that for so long, honestly, I was just over it and I wanted to just do other things. We’re getting to spread our wings and find out what we actually like. I think for so long being in sports, your life is kind of prescribed. This is what you do. So I think for both of us, this is really fun and really interesting and really challenging in a different way and maybe eventually down the road we can, I don’t know, put a shirt and tie back on. But I think for now this is so much fun and I actually think we can have a lot of impact this way and continue to do activism and continue to do good in the world, but from a different perspective. And there being just such a wide-open space for women in media and women athletes in media, we feel like this is a cool area for us to dive into.

Sue: Yeah, I 50% feel that way. I actually feel like I’ll never not be connected to it pretty much. I actually became part of the Gotham ownership group while I was playing. I became part of the Storm ownership group a couple months ago. I have other ambitions in that way, but the good part about that, to your point, is you’re in it, but you’re not. Right? You are, but you’re not. And I have a couple other roles. I’m part of FIBA as an ambassador, so I’m able to stay in it, but not in such an official capacity that it’s taking time away from some of these other things that we are starting to do. So for me, I feel that’s a nice balance that I have going.

West: Megan, your jersey is getting retired in Seattle soon. Just walk me through what that feels like. Obviously a huge honor, but it probably won’t hit you until the moment happens. How does that feel?

Megan: Yeah, it is a huge honor. I mean, that’s the perfect way to say it. I’m like, yeah, I feel like I’m going to be so emotional about it when it comes. It’s like the place where I spent, I feel like the most meaningful part of my career and life really in Seattle and with that organization and with Laura Harvey obviously, and the players I’ve played with for so long. I’m sure I’ll be fumbling over my words. I mean, it is incredible to know that you made an impact like that on a team and on a city and obviously being able to watch Sue go through the same thing and just how special that was and to be able to have my friends and family there, knowing it’ll be hanging somewhere. I don’t know exactly where in that stadium, but to know that I’ll forever be a part of that club and have a really meaningful part in that club is really special to me.

West: Wow, congratulations again. So you two are in Paris for the Olympics. Now that you’re both on the retired side, what is something to do during the Olympics that people wouldn’t expect that you are up to?

Megan: Honestly, we’re just taking in Paris. Even just going to all the events and being able to go to all the parties and go to restaurants and just do kind of whatever is amazing.

Sue: I actually think it’s flipped. I think what people would be surprised about is the athlete experience and how little you get to do—and we talk about this on the first episode of the podcast—but the opening ceremonies. I was fortunate. Megan, sadly they couldn’t go at all because soccer wasn’t in the actual city, so she’s never gone to open ceremonies and I’ve gone to all of ’em, but you don’t see shit. You really don’t see anything because you’re just kind of in the tunnel or you’re not even at the stadium yet, and so you actually don’t get to experience it. So it’s almost like flipped in a sense. So now we’re just doing the things that people probably thought we were doing the whole time.

Megan: I’m like, I saw the Eiffel Tower, this is awesome.

West: Did you guys stay at the Olympic Village? I’m told that’s it’s its own experience.

Sue: Yeah, so neither of us stayed in the Village either, but we had moments. In my five Olympics, I stayed there one night. But we would visit the Village. There is stuff to do there and you want to see your friends, other people on other teams.

Megan: Yeah, soccer travels all around. So we’re really only in the host city for either one early group game or the final. So my experience in the Village was in London, it was the only time we stayed in the Village and it was so hectic because we only had two days between the games and we were trying to check into the Village and get there and recover. So it was kind of hectic, but it’s definitely a vibe. A lot of athletes only compete one or two days and then you just stay and chill and meet all the other athletes and you can go to all the events. Your credential gets you everywhere. So it’s definitely a cool vibe. We were just literally worked to the bone and could never have any time to start before the tournament ends and you guys are basically the same. So it is not as much of a marquee moment in our Olympic experience.

West:

While you were playing, is there a music artist that sticks out to you as a staple in any of your Olympic journeys? If so, were they one-offs or are you consistent with your music?

Sue:

For me in my whole career it’s Jay-Z for sure.

West: I should have known.

Sue: Yeah, he’s like the soundtrack to so many different moments for me. I actually vividly remember listening to “Lucifer” on repeat at the Athens Olympics and then I chose “Forever Young” when my jersey got retired last year to be queued up when the ceremony ended and everything in between. So it’s like Jay-Z’s just sprinkled all in there and I’m going to be honest, I still listen to it. Not much has changed.

Megan: My defining moment from London is the Black Keys. They had that song “Gold on the Ceiling,” and that was so popular during that time and it was obviously like, we want gold. So yeah, shout out to the Black Keys.

West: Do you still bump those dudes or have you moved on?

Megan: Yeah, I do. We actually just saw them at South By. Yeah, they were cool. I love a little bit of Black Keys, but yeah, I don’t have a bias. Whatever rap is going on at the time or current hip-hop in the locker room.

West: I need to ask about the new Unrivaled women’s basketball league and what the whole plan is for that. Megan, I know you’re an investor and you’ve backed it publicly.

Megan: Yeah, I think it’s really, really cool to have athletes design and own their own career and own their own money-making opportunities. Three-on-three basketball is exploding and is so entertaining. I think it has a really big opportunity to kind of have this niche little moment. Obviously the W[NBA] goes through the summer and a lot of players aren’t really going overseas anymore. There’s a lot more opportunity to make money here. I know it’s kind of starting in Miami, but imagine going to other cities and you having a DJ, you have people there and to have all the best players in the world, they’re all signing up. So I think it’s going to be really exciting. It’s also a great place for them to continue to work out and get games and continue to work on their craft, but also in a fun way that’s just like, I can’t wait to see people. It’s much more one-on-one and exciting and a lot of scoring and games are quick. So I think it’s a really cool opportunity and I think it’s cool for women, too, because we don’t always have to do every single thing that the men do. We can have our own sort of vibe and I feel like the way that they put it all together and the athletes that they’ve gotten, it’s going to be super dope. I can’t wait to go. It’s actually going to be so awesome.