In high school being a cheerleader is associated with being popular and what the cool kids did. It also involves a lot of skill and technique to do it well. So, it's no surprise that being a professional cheerleader is a sought after and highly competitive profession. The NFL squads in particular are one of the most desired jobs among professional cheerleaders. However, there is also a dark side to NFL cheerleading. It can be cut-throat just like any other competitive field. What are the dark aspects of cheerleading in the NFL? To find out, watch this video!
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00:00The life of an NFL cheerleader looks extremely fun and glamorous, but the actual realities
00:05of the job are problematic, to say the least.
00:08Here are a few reasons why life in a football cheer squad is anything but charmed.
00:12They intimidate you into silence, but, I mean, you want to be a cheerleader.
00:18It's the best job in the world.
00:21Professional sports are incredibly cutthroat.
00:23The talent pool for NFL cheerleaders is just as vast as it is for players, and getting
00:27selected is just as competitive.
00:29We work so hard for years just for one audition.
00:34As of 2018, Sportster reported that only 26 of the league's 32 teams had cheerleading
00:39squads, and for those precious few positions, hundreds of women in each team's metropolitan
00:43area audition, according to GQ.
00:45I can tell in five or ten seconds if somebody is right for the job on their jazz walk.
00:52Former Pats cheerleader Patti Dara told Global News,
00:54"...the New England Patriots get more than 500 women who try out for the team every year,
00:59and they're all good.
01:00They want the best of the best, which means the best dancers but also the best representatives."
01:04They're not even paid for quite a bit of the work that they do."
01:08Beginning in 2014, the LA Times reported that several NFL cheerleaders had filed huge lawsuits
01:13against their teams and the league, claiming illegal payment practices, such as wage theft.
01:18According to Mother Jones, a suit filed by the Oakland Raiderettes claimed cheerleaders
01:22raked in just $125 a game, and that's on the high end.
01:26According to the outlet, the Cincinnati Bengals were reportedly paid $90 per game, Tampa Bay's
01:31cheerleaders earned $100, and the Buffalo Jills got a free game ticket and a parking
01:35pass.
01:36Just for the record, Bloomberg reported the average per-game salary of an NFL player around
01:40that time was almost $200,000.
01:42I used to be a Cincinnati Bengal, but I was paid more being a dancing cupcake than an
01:48NFL cheerleader.
01:51Worked out to an hourly wage, cheerleaders were making way below the legal minimum.
01:55So how did teams skirt the law?
01:57They reportedly classified cheerleaders as independent contractors rather than team employees.
02:02After the Raiderettes' suit was filed, the Raiders upped cheerleader pay to a barely
02:05legal $9 an hour.
02:07It took California Governor Jerry Brown to ensure that professional sports cheerleaders
02:10in California were guaranteed minimum wage, workers' comp, and basic benefits.
02:15While many squad members make around $100 per game, uniforms are reportedly not provided.
02:20Instead, they must be purchased by the cheerleaders from their teams.
02:23According to NBC News, those skimpy uniforms would cost a Buffalo Bills cheerleader about
02:27$650.
02:29And if a uniform suffers even the tiniest bit of damage, the luckless lady may have
02:33to pony up for a new one.
02:35ESPN reported that a Raiderette had to cough up the cash for a replacement uniform after
02:38getting an ink stain on her top at an autograph signing event.
02:43Cheerleaders are almost universally expected to rock a certain look.
02:46But let's be honest, looking like a cheerleader means being conventionally attractive, and
02:50for the NFL, that means being thin.
02:52What's most important, definitely nutrition and fitness, and then just don't sleep on
02:57the importance of your appearance."
02:59According to a former NFL cheerleader's anonymous account of her job, slim figures are enforced
03:04with weigh-ins before games.
03:06She told Cosmo,
03:07"'The first time I weighed in at 127 pounds, the choreographer assured me that it was just
03:11gas.
03:12But when the scale still showed 127 pounds on game day, I was pulled from the performance.'"
03:17The realities of work were allegedly even worse for the Buffalo Jills, the Buffalo Bills'
03:22former cheerleaders.
03:23According to the New York Post and Alyssa Yu, a Buffalo Jill from 2012 to 2013, cheerleaders
03:28were forced to undergo a so-called physique evaluation.
03:32She told HBO Sports,
03:33"'You have to perform 10 jumping jacks, and that's what was called the jiggle test, so
03:40they could see if any parts of your body were jiggling.'"
03:43Former cheer teammate Maria claimed the dehumanizing workplace exercise also had real consequences.
03:49"'You failed a jiggle test?'
03:50"'I did.
03:51I was devastated.
03:52I started crying.
03:53You're very emotional because that's what you work so hard for, is to cheer at these
03:56games.'"
03:58Not only do cheerleaders have to keep their appearance in company-mandated condition,
04:02but some are required to conduct their personal lives just as primly.
04:06Deadspin reported that the behaviors the Buffalo Jills were told to follow included,
04:09"'Don't use slang.
04:11Don't swear.
04:12Don't be overly opinionated.
04:13Don't flirt.
04:14Don't dominate conversations.
04:16Don't gossip.
04:17Don't do any and all innuendo and don't burp or sneeze without saying, excuse me.'"
04:21According to the LA Times, the Oakland Raiderettes signed a contract promising they'd never wear
04:25curlers on their way to the stadium or chew gum.
04:28And while a large part of an NFL cheerleader's job involves dancing and revealing outfits,
04:33some teams prohibit their cheerleaders from doing anything risqué on social media.
04:37In 2018, New Orleans Saintsations cheerleader Bailey Davis was fired after posting a privacy-locked
04:43photo on Instagram in a flattering one-piece.
04:45This is a sanctioned photo.
04:47Which one do you think shows more skin?
04:49I think the one on the left, and they actually picked out that swimsuit for me.
04:53Davis sued the team, which also reportedly tells its cheer squad to not even eat in the
04:57same restaurants as its players.
04:59What it's going to take is a team of women that are going to stand up together and say,
05:04we're not going to tolerate this any longer.