All we know about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ salaries | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

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

When the inaugural series debuted on Netflix back in 2024, numerous viewers were taken aback by how modest the cheerleaders’ pay was in comparison to NFL players. This sparked a campaign for improved wages, led by a group of veteran cheerleaders, which became a central storyline in America’s Sweethearts’ second series. But did the campaign succeed? And what are they earning 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 practice sessions and $500 (£372) per match before the 2025 season.

This amounted to an annual salary of approximately $75,000 (£55,890) for cheerleaders who secured a place on the squad, according to reports 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 successfully took the organisation to court, resulting 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 simply to make ends meet.

Furthermore, even the Dallas Cowboys’ newest recruits were pocketing around ten times more than veteran cheerleaders, with rookie salaries starting at $750,000 (£558,900) and veterans at $850,000 (£633,460). Quarterback Dak Prescott remains the team’s top earner, commanding a current average salary of $60 million (£44.75 million) per year having penned a $240 million (£178.83 million) four-year deal.

Throughout the 2024-25 season, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders convened meetings to address the thorny issue of pay and even contemplated staging walkouts during matches, though this ultimately never came to fruition.

Jada McLean, who played a pivotal role 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 remarkable 400 percent, with cheerleaders reportedly taking home around $75 (£55.89) per hour. Experienced cheerleaders can now expect to earn approximately $150,000 (£111,770) annually.

However, the cheerleaders’ precise earnings are not revealed within the series, and questions have been raised over whether the 400 percent figure is entirely accurate.

Veteran Reece Weaver disclosed on the Unplanned podcast last November that the increase was “more like 300 percent”, though maintained the team 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 does not encompass a flat fee for match-day appearances, which Weaver describes as a “huge improvement”. The role has also remained part-time and continues to offer no health insurance provision for cheerleaders.

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