Shake That Booty

Its not all pom-poms and razzmatazz, in the world of the US cheerleaders ......

Cheerleaders Dancing

..... life can be hard and unfair for these athletic, and often pneumatic girls.

In 2014 for example, there were more than three lawsuits filed against professional American football clubs in the National Football League (NFL) alleging that they were not paid fairly for their well-trained dance routines, that are often performed wearing skimpy clothing. The law suits also alleged that their work conditions were degrading and often led to unwanted sexual contact .... shades of the recent complaints by women Spanish International footballers.

 

In all, cheerleaders from the five NFL teams - the Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets had all filed lawsuits claiming that the teams didn't pay them a fair wage. One of the complainants, in what became a class action by 2017, exposed the San Francisco 49ers‘ Gold Rush Girls salaries as being well below federal minimum wages. She was a trained (for two decades) dancer, before beating dozens of female dancers to get the role .... but for the period July 2013 to February 2014, she received a wage of just $125 per match game, or just $1,250 per season. Doing the simple maths, she demonstrated that for the 450 hours she worked (rehearsals and match days), she received just $2.75 per hour .... an illegal amount.

Of course she and others benefited from the very public national exposure that dancing and performing on televised games provided, plus the free training in advanced dance training lessons. They often benefited from other perks such as access to hair stylists and make-up professionals. The girls would feature on calendar shots, and were able to pocket the profits from their personal sales .... and for some, being pitch-side of teams that they supported was a huge bonus.

 

But the physical standards meant that they were subjected to beauty tests on their physical appearance in their outfit, and could be dropped if they 'jiggled' in the wrong place. The fair skinned girls were expected to look tanned, and were often left out of pocket with the costs of tanning sprays or sessions from expensive sponsors. The calendars perk, could easily lead to losses at some clubs, where the girls were expected to buy the calendars outright beforehand, and then keep whatever they made, only after they recouped their costs by selling them themselves. If the calendars didn't sell, they could lose money. 

 

Oakland Raiderettes 2014

 

In 2014, a leaked Oakland Raiders' 'Raiderette' cheerleading squad handbook originally published by 'The Los Angeles Times', caused more outrage as it was shown to outline how the ‘Raiderettes’ must behave while eating in public, and especially in socializing with team players. The handbook outlined rules for 'fraternizing,' with advice on how to avoid getting caught in a ‘date rape’ scandal with players, rather than saying that players were also warned about their behaviour.

‘There have been a few relationships between the two groups that have resulted in a few happy marriages and lovely children. HOWEVER, we have also had more situations where, quite frankly, the Raider organization and the Raiderettes narrowly escaped ruined reputations.’

‘One such example concerns a player who gave Halloween parties every year and many of the Raiderettes attended. This same player was suspended from the team for drug use, but also arrested for date rape. For you on the squad who have attended those parties, just think how narrowly you missed having your photo in all the local papers and/or being assaulted.’

The 2014 handbook went on to advise that apparently some NFL teams such as the Chicago Bears, who previously had cheerleaders, did not now have them. Allegedly this was because of 'morality problems with their squads', they had decided that cheerleaders (but not the players who were lying about their marital status, or raping women), were too much trouble to deal with.

 

Finally the 2014 handbook advised the 'Raiderettes' to find out if players are married before becoming their 'friends', stating that many players will 'lie' about their marital status in order to 'date' a cheerleader, and that it is the 'Raiderette's' job to find out the truth beforehand.

The sexual / unwanted contact in the complaints was also alleged from 'fans' rather than just club officials, with the girls say that not enough security is provided either at games or the promotional events that they are required to perform at, with a certain number of these 'volunteer gigs' being often required, and being unpaid, so the girls are out of pocket.

 

In some cases the clubs are accused of restrictive trade practices, as under a “no poaching” policy, adopted by the NFL as part of their merger with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970, the girls can't look for higher wages with other teams .... this breaches US federal antitrust laws. Other issues highlighted included the fact that cheerleaders were fined for such things as not having their nails done properly, being forced to engage in draconian weigh-ins, or being required to not wear underwear at games.

What particularly aggrieved many of the ladies, was that team mascots were paid between $25,000 and $65,000 per season at that time, and some even receive retirement benefits .... for considerably less hard work. 

 

I'm happy to be able report that some of the girls had successes after launching the original legal actions, with around 100 'Oakland Raiderettes' receiving a $1.25 million settlement on pay (plus $9 per hour pay), while some members of the 'Cincinnati Ben-Gals' won a settlement of $255,000 over back pay .... But, and there's always a but isn't there, nearly a decade after that first legal claim was made, conditions are still hard and unsatisfactory for the ladies on the cheerleader squads.

 

NBC News reported in 2022 that the average pay for NFL cheerleaders was about $150 a game (approx $22,500 a year), which is really not that much different (taking account of inflation), than what it was reported to be in the original Raiders lawsuit in 2014. The report even highlighted the fact that fifteen-year-old lifeguards on their first job, by law earn the same amount of money / minimum hourly rate as the cheerleaders, who can spend 14-hour a day in the stadium, and most of their lives on buses to and from games.

 

There's still a long way to go for justice in pay rates for these girls .....