Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Get Major Pay Increase

This week, Netflix released the second season of AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, which follows the most recent group of the iconic Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders from auditions all the way through the 2024 season. This season of the show revealed a pretty significant update.

A major storyline during season 2 of the show was the issue of compensation for the cheerleaders. After season 1 of the docuseries was such a hit, bringing a flurry of attention – and by extension, money – to the Dallas Cowboys organization, many of the cheerleaders felt that they should have received more compensation as part of their contracts, especially considering that the cheerleaders often have to work two or three jobs to support themsevles while cheering for the team.

However, when the cheerleaders received their contract while filming the second season of the show, they revealed that it was the same compensation as the year before, with no pay raise despite the popularity of their hit show.

Needless to say, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders were not necessarily happy about this and pushed the organization for an increase in pay.

Following this push, the cheerleaders revealed that the Cowboys had changed their minds, deciding to give them a 400 percent pay increase.

“Happy’ isn’t even the right word for it,” said cheerleader Jada McLean, who was one of the leaders in pushing for increased compensation. “I think I was just ... kind of felt, like, a relief, like everything had paid off. And it was, you know, finally, we were done fighting.”

“Our efforts were heard and they wanted to give us a raise,” four-year veteran Megan McElaney said on the show. “And we ended up getting a 400 percent increase, which is like, life-changing.”

Veteran Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Claire Wolford shared a three-word reaction to the news on Instagram:

"Let's go girls!" she wrote.

The show has been a hit, and now the cheerleaders are being compensated for it.