All we know about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders | NFL News

America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders returned to screens this week with an eagerly anticipated third season of Netflix’s standard docuseries. Each seven-episode collection of the programme, created by Greg Whiteley, follows the latest NFL season as both newcomers and skilled cheerleaders vie for a place on the 36-strong squad. The new recruits are mentored by director Kelli Finglass, head choreographer Judy Trammell and a number of cheerleading veterans who have carried out for DCC for as many as six consecutive years.

When the inaugural collection debuted on Netflix back in 2024, quite a few viewers have been shocked by how modest the cheerleaders’ pay was in comparability to NFL gamers. This sparked a marketing campaign for improved wages, led by a group of veteran cheerleaders, which grew to become a central storyline in America’s Sweethearts’ second collection. But did the marketing campaign succeed? And what are they incomes now?

Despite the Dallas Cowboys being valued at over $10 billion (£7.45 billion) at the time, their cheerleaders reportedly earned just between $15 and $20 an hour (£11.18 – £14.90) for observe classes and $500 (£372) per match before the 2025 season.

This amounted to an annual wage of roughly $75,000 (£55,890) for cheerleaders who secured a place on the squad, according to stories from NBC Boston. Yet this itself represented a rise from even more meagre wages just a few years prior, following longstanding discontent over the cheerleaders’ remuneration.

In 2018, former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Erica Wilkins efficiently took the organisation to court, ensuing in a 2019 settlement that raised wages from $8 (£5.96) per hour to $12 (£8.94) per hour. Game day pay was also boosted from a mere $200 (£149) to $400 (£298).

During the 2024-25 season depicted in the Netflix documentary’s second instalment, the DCC squad remained dissatisfied with their earnings, with many having to take on second jobs merely to make ends meet.

Furthermore, even the Dallas Cowboys’ latest recruits have been pocketing around ten instances more than veteran cheerleaders, with rookie salaries beginning at $750,000 (£558,900) and veterans at $850,000 (£633,460). Quarterback Dak Prescott stays the staff’s top earner, commanding a current average wage of $60 million (£44.75 million) per yr having penned a $240 million (£178.83 million) four-year deal.

Throughout the 2024-25 season, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders convened conferences to tackle the thorny issue of pay and even contemplated staging walkouts during matches, though this finally never got here to fruition.

Jada McLean, who performed a pivotal function in securing the squad’s new pay deal, told TIME magazine: “We didn’t want to let people down who were so excited to see the cheerleaders after supporting us through the first season of our television show.”

In the concluding episode of America’s Sweethearts season two, four-year veteran Megan McElaney reveals that the squad has secured a “life-changing” pay rise of a outstanding 400 p.c, with cheerleaders reportedly taking home around $75 (£55.89) per hour. Experienced cheerleaders can now anticipate to earn roughly $150,000 (£111,770) yearly.

However, the cheerleaders’ exact earnings will not be revealed within the collection, and questions have been raised over whether or not the 400 p.c determine is solely correct.

Veteran Reece Weaver disclosed on the Unplanned podcast last November that the increase was “more like 300 percent”, though maintained the staff is still “so grateful with the outcome”.

“I really don’t know all the behind-the-scenes on how it all works out, but what I can say is that it has been such an improvement and a very big increase [over] what we have seen in the past,” she added.

Crucially, the pay rise doesn’t embody a flat charge for match-day appearances, which Weaver describes as a “huge improvement”. The function has also remained part-time and continues to offer no health insurance coverage provision for cheerleaders.

America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders season 3 is out there on Netflix.