Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Unionize Following Years of Pay Disputes
Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders unionize after years of fighting for better pay, as the franchise officially recognizes their collective bargaining representative.
POLICY WIRE — Dallas, United States — The iconic Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders have officially chosen to unionize following a prolonged battle over compensation and working conditions within professional sports.
Both the NFL franchise and the newly formed collective bargaining unit announced in a joint statement on Friday that the organization has agreed to recognize the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association.
The formalization of the union caps years of advocacy by squad members seeking increased wages and better labor protections within one of the most recognizable entertainment groups in global athletics.
During the second season of the Netflix documentary series America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, which aired last year, a squad member noted that performers were receiving a 400% boost in pay.
That adjustment followed a 2019 legal settlement between the Cowboys and a former cheerleader that successfully doubled per-game compensation for team members to $400.
Historical precedent for professional cheerleaders organizing dates back to 1995, when the Buffalo Jills secured a National Labor Relations Board ruling permitting them to form the National Football League Cheerleaders Association.
The Buffalo Jills ultimately disbanded years later following a 2014 lawsuit filed by former performers alleging they endured hundreds of hours of unpaid labor alongside incidents of groping and inappropriate comments.
Virginia Commonwealth University sociology professor Victor Chen noted that the Dallas Cowboys squad likely benefited significantly from high public visibility and media exposure via their Netflix series.
Chen explained that without such intense media notoriety, organizations frequently lean on the massive surplus of applicants willing to accept low compensation to easily replace departing talent.
This dynamic creates widespread wage inequality across artistic and entertainment sectors where large numbers of hopefuls compete for poorly compensated roles, according to Chen.
Financial records evaluated by Forbes magazine consistently rank the Dallas Cowboys as the most valuable professional sports franchise in the world.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
