The life of an NFL cheerleader looks extremely fun and glamorous.
But the actual realities of the job are problematic to say the least.
Here are a few reasons why life in a football cheer squad is anything but charmed.
"They intimidate you into silence, but I mean you wanna be a cheerleader. It's the best job in the world."
Professional sports are incredibly cutthroat.
The talent pool for NFL cheerleaders is just as vast as it is for players, and getting
selected is just as competitive.
"We work so hard for years, just for one audition."
As of 2018, Sportster reported that only 26 of the league's 32 teams had cheerleading
squads, and for those precious few positions, hundreds of women in each team's metropolitan
area audition, according to GQ.
"I can tell in five or ten seconds if somebody is right for the job on their jazz walk."
Former Pats cheerleader Patty Darrah told Global News,
"They're not even paid for quite a bit of the work that they do."
Beginning in 2014, the LA Times reported that several NFL cheerleaders had filed huge lawsuits
against their teams and the league claiming illegal payment practices such as "wage theft."
According to Mother Jones, a suit filed by the Oakland Raiderettes claimed cheerleaders
raked in just $125 a game, and that's on the high end.
According to the outlet, the Cincinnati Ben-Gals were reportedly paid $90 per game, Tampa Bay's
cheerleaders earned $100, and the Buffalo Jills got a free game ticket and a parking
pass.
Just for the record, Bloomberg reported the average per-game salary of an NFL player around
that time was almost $200,000.
"I used to be a Cincinnati Ben-Gal, but I was paid more being a dancing cupcake than
an NFL cheerleader."
Worked out to an hourly wage, cheerleaders were making way below the legal minimum.
So how did teams skirt the law?
They reportedly classified cheerleaders as "independent contractors" rather than team
employees.
After the Raiderettes' suit was filed, the Raiders upped cheerleader pay to a barely-legal
nine bucks an hour.
It took California governor Jerry Brown to ensure that professional sports cheerleaders
in California were guaranteed minimum wage, workers' comp, and basic benefits.
While many squad members make around $100 per game, uniforms are reportedly not provided.
Instead, they must be purchased by the cheerleaders from their teams.
According to NBC News, those skimpy uniforms would cost a Buffalo Bills cheerleader about
$650, and if a uniform suffers even the tiniest bit of damage, the luckless lady may have
to pony up for a new one.
ESPN reported that a Raiderette had to cough up the cash for a replacement uniform after
getting an ink stain on her top at an autograph-signing event.
Cheerleaders are almost universally expected to rock a certain "look."
But let's be honest: looking "like a cheerleader" means being conventionally attractive, and
for the NFL, that means being thin.
"What's most important, definitely nutrition and fitness, and then just don't sleep on
the importance of your appearance."
According to a former NFL cheerleader's anonymous account of her job, slim figures are enforced
with weigh-ins before games.
She told Cosmo,
The realities of work were allegedly even worse for the Buffalo Jills, the Buffalo Bills'
former cheerleaders.
According to the New York Post and "Alyssa U.," a Buffalo Jill from 2012 to 2013, cheerleaders
were forced to undergo a so-called "physique evaluation."
She told HBO Sports,
"You have to perform 10 jumping jacks, and that's what was called the jiggle test, so
they could see if any parts of your body were jiggling."
Former cheer teammate, Maria, claimed the dehumanizing workplace exercise also had real
consequences.
"You failed a jiggle test?"
"I did.
I was devastated, I started crying.
You're very emotional because that's what you work so hard for is to cheer at these
games."
Not only do cheerleaders have to keep their appearance in company-mandated condition,
but some are required to conduct their personal lives just as primly.
Deadspin reported that the behaviors the Buffalo Jills were told to follow included: Don't
use slang, don't swear, "do not be overly opinionated," don't flirt, don't dominate
conversations, don't gossip, avoid any and all innuendo, and don't burp or sneeze without
saying "excuse me."
According to the LA Times, the Oakland Raiderettes signed a contract promising they'd never wear
curlers on their way to the stadium or chew gum.
And while a large part of an NFL cheerleader's job involves dancing in revealing outfits,
some teams prohibit their cheerleaders from doing anything risqué on social media.
In 2018, New Orleans Saintsations cheerleader, Bailey Davis, was fired after posting a privacy-locked
photo on Instagram in a flattering one-piece.
"This is a sanctioned photo.
Which one do you think shows more skin?"
"I think the one on the left and they actually picked out that swimsuit for me."
Davis sued the team, which also reportedly tells its cheer squad to not even eat in the
same restaurants as its players.
"What it's gonna take is a team of women that are gonna stand up together and say we're
not gonna tolerate this any longer."