From $15 an hour to a union: The long fight behind the Cowboys cheerleaders’ big win

The Dallas Cowboys have formally recognized their cheerleaders as a union. The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association announced the move Friday, saying the team agreed after a "meaningful discussion." Bargaining can now begin, and no NFL cheer squad has ever reached a contract. The squad has 36 active members. Pay is the center of it. Until 2025, most veterans reportedly earned about $15 an hour. Getting from there to a bargaining table took years of organizing, and a Netflix series that carried the pay fight to a bigger audience.How $15 an hour became a bargaining tableStart with the money. In 2019, the Cowboys settled a lawsuit with a former cheerleader, and pay per game rose from $200 to $400. It helped. It was still small money.The bigger jump came in 2025. When season two of Netflix's America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders came out that June, one cheerleader revealed a 400 percent raise for the 2025-26 season. Veterans would make around $75 an hour, up from roughly $15 for most of the group. Those figures came from a cheerleader speaking on camera, so they are reported numbers, not a posted pay scale.None of it happened by accident. The cheerleaders worked together behind the scenes for years, and at one point they threatened to stage a walkout. Megan McElaney, one of the women who led the push for higher pay, said in the show's final episode, "Our efforts were heard." She added, "I get emotional knowing that I was a part of that."The team's own director backed the cause. Kelli Finglass called the effort to raise wages "60-plus years long overdue" on the show's second season. Coming from the person who runs the squad, that line carried weight.What the union can and cannot change yetRecognition is not a contract. Bargaining starts now, and nothing has been agreed on pay, hours or benefits. Early coverage does not list specific demands.The team did not force a fight over recognition. It agreed voluntarily, through a brief joint release with the cheerleaders' association. The statement praised the squad's talent and dedication. Pay terms were not in the portions quoted in early coverage. Voluntary recognition can spare a group a long fight over whether it may organize, so the cheerleaders can head straight to bargaining.If talks succeed, Dallas would be the first NFL cheer squad to reach a contract. Only one other team has tried to organize. The Buffalo Jills made a short-lived attempt in the mid-1990s, and it did not last.The cheerleaders also bring something most squads lack: a streaming audience. Two seasons of a Netflix show have made the pay fight easy for fans to follow, and hard for the team to ignore.The fight reaches well beyond Dallas. In 2014, Lacy Thibodeaux-Fields, then an Oakland Raiderette, sued her team. NFL cheerleaders have been pushing for better pay for a decade. Dallas is now believed to be the first pro cheer squad in the country with a union.Fans were quick to pick a side. The football team is 2-4, and one fan needled the team by saying the cheerleaders are the only ones winning. Another hoped the idea spreads to every NFL squad.The first real question is who gets a seat. The 2026 squad has 36 members, 28 returning veterans and eight rookies. It is still unclear how many the union will cover.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.