Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Make As Much As A Full-Time Chick-Fil-A Employee, According To Former Member

For over 60 years, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC) have enthralled audiences with their impressively high kicks, star-spangled shorts, tops, and signature white boots. Given how profitable the NFL is, you would assume these talented women would receive a fair wage. Turns out that hasn't been the case at all.

With the release of Netflix's America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, the issue of low pay for these hardworking performers has been spotlighted. The new sports docuseries also explored the grueling auditions and intense training camp of the NFL season as cheerleaders fight for a coveted spot on the squad.

The film's director and executive producer, Gregg Whitely, revealed that while the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders are "on the highest end" of the NFL cheer pay scale, the DCC women "fall into a new category." He added, "None of them are rich. None of them are getting paid a ton, but it isn’t the same dearth of payment that I think other NFL cheerleaders have to experience.”

According to Whiteley, the pay also depends on the position within the squad. “It varies depending on how senior you are in the group. You may even get paid more if you’re a group leader.”

When former member Kat Puryear was asked how much she made in 2022 as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, she shocked the audience with her answer. “I would say I’m making like…a substitute teacher,” she said in the series. “I would say I’m making…like a Chick-fil-A worker who works full time.” For reference, Zip Recruiter states that the average annual salary for a Chick-fil-A worker in Texas is $32,937.

To add insult to injury, a cheerleader is said to get paid half of what the team's mascot makes a year. It was announced previously that the Cowboys' mascot, Rowdy, made $65,000 annually. Meanwhile, the minimum rookie salary in the NFL is $795,000, and the Dallas Cowboys is currently valued at $9 billion. Why aren't these women getting paid a livable wage?

How Much Do Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Make?

This is not the first time the team has been criticized for its allegedly underpaid cheerleaders. In 2018, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader named Erica Wilkins filed a suit alleging that she earned less than the minimum wage. Her attorney, Allen Vaught, said the suit had been settled.

According to a 2017 report, NFL cheerleaders earn $150 per game, plus more for practice time and public appearances – that's about $22,500 per year. NBC revealed in 2022 the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders reportedly earned $15 to $20 an hour, or $500 each game. Some professional and experienced cheerleaders make up to $75,000 yearly, but "the large majority are not and are either in college or have just graduated," per Diario US.

Charlotte Jones Defends Low Pay

On Friday, Charlotte Jones, the Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer of the Dallas Cowboys Football Club, responded to the backlash, asserting that the women don’t audition for money. She claims that the cheerleaders do it for “sisterhood” and a “passion for dance" in a field with limited opportunities to perform at an elite level.

“There’s a lot of cynicism around pay for NFL cheerleaders, as there should be,” she told Dallas Morning News. “They’re not paid a lot. But the facts are that they actually don’t come here for the money. They come here for something that’s actually bigger than that to them.” If you were curious about Jones' wealth, she has a net wroth of $100 million.

Surprisingly, Whitely also came to the Cowboys' defense. The low pay is not excuslive to the team's cheerleaders, but is an industry-wide issue. “In defense of the Cowboys organization, they pay commensurate with how dancers are typically paid in the industry,” he said. “I did not realize that dancers were just not paid, given their level of talent and even their level of exposure. It’s probably part and parcel to the number of people who want to do it versus the number of jobs that there are. So the marketplace, as a result, is not rewarding them in the way that I think they deserve to be rewarded.”

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