The jarring justifications for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ measly pay
'They actually don't come here for the money'
In season three of the Netflix show America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, we saw amazing dancers work extremely hard to be on the team. You’d think that, since everybody on the show keeps talking about how special and important the DCC are, they’d be paid accordingly… right? The executive vice president of the Dallas Cowboys has laid out her justifications for the cheerleaders’ pay. Her reasoning is a bit jarring.
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders did get a pay rise ahead of America’s Sweethearts season three, thankfully. Until 2024, the dancers would reportedly only be paid about $10,000 to $15,000 for each season. The club has now changed how cheerleaders are paid, so some veteran dancers can now pull in up to $150,000 for each season. This is obviously a massive change, but the pay is still lower than Netflix viewers might guess. The Dallas Cowboys club made approximately $1.22 billion in 2024, according to Forbes. The cheerleaders are obviously a big part of the brand. The lowest-paid Dallas Cowboys football player in 2024 still got $796,000. The highest got $55,132,647.
Charlotte Jones Anderson is the executive vice president and the chief brand officer for the Dallas Cowboys. Her dad Jerry Jones is the billionaire who owns the club. Woah, I wonder how she got the job?! Jerry Jones’s net worth in 2026 is $19 billion, according to Forbes.
Charlotte Jones Anderson has broken down the reasoning behind the cheerleaders’ pay. She told the Dallas Morning News: “There’s a lot of cynicism around pay for NFL cheerleaders – as it should be. They’re not paid a lot.
“But the facts are: They actually don’t come here for the money. They come here for something that’s actually bigger than that to them.
“They have a passion for dance. There are not a lot of opportunities in the field of dance to get to perform at an elite level. It is about being a part of something bigger than themselves.
“It is about a sisterhood that they are able to form, about relationships that they have for the rest of their life. They have a chance to feel like they are valued, they are special, and they are making a difference. When the women come here, they find their passion and they find their purpose.”
Perhaps the women would “feel like they are valued” if they were paid a bit more?
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