FRISCO - We can imagine that somewhere up in the executive wing of Dallas Cowboys headquarters, the regime before Jerry Jones and since has viewed the fact that the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders really don't get paid as ...
Charming.
But down the hall and out the building? A more apt word might be ...
Cheap.
As relayed in the latest episode of the "America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders" docuseries on Netflix,team members are stunned by the news that they will each receive real live actual paychecks for their work.
It adds up to a 400-percent salary bump for the 2025 season ... The 400-percent increase will push the average salaries up to around $100,000 per season.
Considering the fact that they put in ridiculous hours behind the scenes are are ubiquitous in front of the curtain?
Jerry's still getting off easy.
To some, paying the DCC pennies on the dollar is a tradition. Former GM Tex Schramm set it up that way, and the Joneses never changed it. Indeed, for decades there has been criticism of a franchise now worth more than $10 billion paying part-time money for the Cheerleaders' decidedly full-time work.
"You guys have moved some mountains this year that will forever change our organization and hopefully dancers' organizations across the world," the squad's director, Kelli Finglass, told the cheerleaders at their end-of-season banquet, as documented in Episode 7 of Season 2. "It's just amazing because that has been 60-plus years long overdue."
That's a bold statement from Finglass, who is very much a part of the "family'' here with the Cowboys. But it's a true statement. The view has always essentially been, "It's such a honor to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader that you shouldn't do it for the money.''
A Cheerleader here can certainly springboard her way to fame and fortune; more than a few have gone on to Hollywood careers; The "America's Sweethearts'' docuseries on Netflix could surely launch big-time careers for those on camera.
But that never really justified not paying them a decent wage.
What's left to ponder here? Just one question for Jerry Jones ...
"What the hell took you so long?''