3 things I never knew about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders as a diehard football fan before watching the Netflix series
I never thought I’d be writing this article but here’s the thing: It’s early July and there’s still a couple of weeks left to go before training camp. But most importantly, all of this has been on my mind and I feel the need to get it all off my chest before moving on to […]
I never thought I’d be writing this article but here’s the thing: It’s early July and there’s still a couple of weeks left to go before training camp. But most importantly, all of this has been on my mind and I feel the need to get it all off my chest before moving on to actual football.
The truth is that even though the Dallas Cowboys have been a significant part of my life since I was six years old, I’ve never been into the whole Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders thing. To be quite honest, I’ve always kind of ignored them. I know there’s a lot of people who absolutely love them, know every single one of their names, and even collect the swimsuit calendars.
But my knowledge of them pretty much stopped at understanding they were considered the ultimate golden standard of NFL cheerleaders.
Then Netflix dropped its seven-episode series and during an 11-day vacation, my girlfriend (who has watched several seasons of a previous team-produced show following the selection process) persuaded me to watch it. I was reluctant… at least for about five full minutes. After that, I'll admit I was hooked.
I mean, the people running these shows know exactly what they're doing and boy, oh boy, do they know how to turn the drama knob all the way up. They could make a documentary about paint drying on the wall and the intro would be electric.
But all kidding aside, I honestly felt like I learned quite a bit about them that I didn't know before, so here I am. Let's dive into the biggest lessons I came across regarding the iconic Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
1. DCC give off Friday Night Lights vibes
The 2004 movie Friday Night Lights has been my all-time favorite film for one very specific reason: How director Peter Berg captures how much the people of Odessa care about high school football and their Permian Panthers.
The shots of "Gone for the Game!" signs on every shop, the complicated relationship between running back Don Billingsley and his dad, coach Gary Gaines being straight up threatened by a couple of boosters. It's great cinema and it shows an outrageous, even irrational passion for football.
Well, it turns out that exists in the DCC world.
Most of the women auditioning for a spot on the team have been dreaming of it since they were little girls and contrary to popular belief, these are not supermodels making big-time money whose side gig is being a DCC.
Take group leader and fifth-year veteran Kelcey for example (yeah, I know her names now). She's a nurse who is self-admittedly on four hours of sleep at times and still shows up for the gig. Meanwhile, Victoria seemingly grew up her entire life yearning to be a DCC because her mother was one before her and for a good chunk of the show it appears to be her sole purpose in life, to a point where it's tough to watch at times (although if you stick around for the ending you'll love how things end up for her).
This is the world to them and it's impressive to watch considering…
2. The pay is rough… more than you think
For a long time, it seems like everyone has known and understood that the women who work as DCC barely get paid. And although no numbers are given out on the series, it is addressed. At one point of the show, Kat claims she's "making like a Chick-Fil-A worker that works full-time."
Improv math: According to Zip Recruiter, the average pay in Dallas, TX is $32 an hour while the 25th percentile hits $23. Per Indeed, a Chick-Fil-A restaurant staff member in Texas makes an average hourly wage of under $15.
Charlotte Jones herself admits on the series that "they're not paid a lot. But the facts are that they actually don't come here for the money."
I sometimes daydream about Charlotte Jones running the Cowboys but that's a telling quote to make to the public that I can't help but wonder if it will come back to bite them later on.
And the thing that impresses me is that despite the poor pay – which there's very little excuse for if we're being real – the women on the team are finding ways to stay in Dallas, having their fiancés move to town with them, dealing with significant injuries (the iconic split jumps kind of destroy their hips, I learned), and sacrificing other career opportunities just to wear the uniform.
Bump their salaries, Jerry! And pay Dak Prescott while you're at it. Okay, back to the cheerleaders.
3. Their director is the badass coach the football team needs
One of the few things I was excited about when I first started watching the show was getting to see Charlotte Jones in action. But I'll be honest, the real badass is the director, Kelli Finglass.
A former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader herself, Kelli is a hero and a villain all at the same time throughout the series. She cares more about having her team ready to go more than anything else, which is probably why she's been doing this for over 30 years. One second, she is brutally cutting someone from the team and at the next she's being charming and considerate or delivering impressive one-liners.
Kelli is out there zooming in pictures to find the tiniest problems with the cheerleader's looks (by the way, they make them change their entire look sometimes running haircuts and changing their hair color essentially without asking), lecturing them over "off-field" behavior, and doing it all for the team with the help of her right hand, choreographer Judy Trammel.
I think the way the NFL has grown as a business and the way athletes get paid has made the truly authoritarian old-school head coach an extinct breed but Kelli is exactly that and more.
A few more things from the show:
- They don't get to keep the uniforms: So once their run as DCC is over, it's time to turn in the costume. That's insane, in my opinion, but it appears to be a tradition of the team and one that somehow takes care of an iconic symbol for the Cowboys brand.
- Emmitt Smith gives them a speech: At one point of the show, Emmitt shows up to give them a speech and he kills it. "There's nothing more precious than your own joy," he says.
- All that they dance on gameday? It's improv. It turns out that cheerleaders don't have choreographies for every son. The DJ hits play on a track and the captain cheerleaders need to immediately think of a choreography that fits it. Now that's a post-snap read.
- Players can't fraternize with them. This makes all the sense in the world but I actually didn't know it was a thing. It turns out the rule has been in place for a long, long time. Someone get started on a Romeo & Juliet fan fiction novel, now. MVP quarterback and group leader fall in love and one has to retire. Just saying.
- Police report: In one of the episodes, one of the cheerleaders is inappropriately touched by a camera man and charges are pressed. Earlier on the show, the series briefly focuses on the highly unfortunate situations some cheerleaders have gone through, going as far as having an AirTag put on Kelcey's car to track where she lived and being followed by a car. Obviously, it's horrible to know that is something they have to go through on top of all the blood, sweat, and tears they put into it. The showmakers miss an opportunity, in my view, to bring up the fact that the Cowboys once paid $2.4 million to settle cheerleaders' voyeurism allegations against former VP of public relations and communications Richard Dalrymple.
