Here's how the Saints cheerleaders get compensated
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The New Orleans Saints cheerleaders perform during the 2024 Reese's Senior Bowl. Photo: Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The 57 dancers who make up the 2024 New Orleans Saints Krewe are getting ready for a new season in the Caesars Superdome as a new Netflix documentary highlights the challenges of being an NFL cheerleader.
Why it matters: "America's Sweethearts," which follows the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, is bringing NFL cheer teams and the low wages they receive back into the spotlight.
Follow the money: In some of the first minutes of the Netflix doc, the featured Dallas cheerleaders laugh at how little they are paid for their efforts to bolster the most valuable NFL brand in the country.
- But the team officials explain away the low wages.
- "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," says Dallas Cowboys executive vice president and chief brand officer Charlotte Jones.
- "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."
The big picture: Those hoping to close the broader gender pay gap in sports seem to finally be making some traction, with the recent runaway success of the WNBA pushing that conversation.
- But there's not much transparency in cheerleader wages across the NFL.
- A previous NBC Sports report says the pay works out to about $22,500 per year. "NFL waterboys usually make $53,000 per year," the report notes.
The intrigue: It's not clear how much the Saints Krewe gets paid, and a representative for the team declined to comment.
- The website detailing how auditions work notes that squad members are paid hourly "as seasonal, part-time employees," which is similar to how one of the former Dallas cheerleaders featured in the documentary described her compensation on TikTok.
- Krewe members are expected to commit to a minimum of six hours of practice per week, attend all home games and participate in additional public appearances throughout the year, the site says.
- The site says Saints Krewe members play "a vital role in enhancing the overall fan experience and creating Dome Field Advantage for our team."
Zoom in: The New Orleans Saints cheer squad has changed up in recent years, leaving behind the Saintsations brand in favor of the Saints Krewe.
- The team also stopped making its swimsuit calendar, swapped its uniforms for ones that covered a bit more skin and changed to a co-ed squad.
Catch up quick: Those changes came as the NFL has publicly wrestled with how it treats its cheerleaders, including legal action taken against the Saints organization itself.
- In 2018, Saints cheerleader Bailey Davis filed a sex discrimination lawsuit for what she described as double-standards the team had for the cheer squad and its players.
- By 2020, The Guardian reports, 10 NFL teams had faced lawsuits over cheerleader pay, discrimination or other issues.
- And a 2021 documentary also detailed the low wages cheerleaders said they received from teams.
The bottom line: Working as an NFL cheerleader is "full time-commitment, part-time pay," said former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Kat Puryear on TikTok. "We do a lot of work."