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ARLINGTON, TX – JANUARY 05: The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders cheer during the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders on January 5, 2025 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty
DALLAS – After years of fighting for pay increases, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders have formed a union.
What we know:
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association is now being recognized by the NFL franchise as the collective bargaining representative for the cheer squad, according to a joint statement provided to the Associated Press on Friday.
“The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are an esteemed part of the Cowboys organization, deeply respected for the talent and dedication they exhibit,” the statement said. “They remain one of the most sought-after opportunities for talented dancers worldwide.”
Notoriety from Netflix series
Dig deeper:
The squads’ widely successful Netflix series, “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders,” likely aided them in their fight. On the second season of the show, one of the cheerleaders said that they were getting a 400% boost in pay.
Virginia Commonwealth University professor Victor Chen, who spoke to the Associated Press, said that without the notoriety from the show, the team may have just tried to replace the cheerleaders.
“You see a lot of that inequality of compensation in any sort of artistic or entertainment field where you have lots of people clamoring to get into it and maybe being unpaid or very poorly paid to do so,” Chen said.
Years-long fight for higher pay
The backstory:
In 2019, the Cowboys settled a lawsuit with a former cheerleader who accused them of paying her less than minimum wage. The cheerleaders made as little as $15 per game during the Cowboy’s heyday in the 1990s, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The Buffalo Jills became the first cheerleading squad to unionize in 1995, though the squad later disbanded following a 2014 lawsuit in which a former member said they worked hundreds of hours for free and were sexually harassed.
The Source: The information in this article was reported by the Associated Press and the Dallas Morning News.