FRISCO - We assume for years that inside 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 part of the charm of it all.
But others have long viewed a certain policy as being cheap.
As relayed in this year's edition of the "America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders" docuseries on Netflix, team members are delightfully 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, which 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 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.''
Among the sacrifices: There are strict rules having to do with dating, and as demonstrated in one episode this year, ramifications involved in breaking those rules.
Case in point: Chandi Dayle violated a major team policy while the ladies were traveling in the Bahamas as she "disclosed the group's hotel information to an unknown person because she needed someone to confide in during the group trip amid personal issues with her ex-boyfriend,'' as People explains it.
Dayle was subject to punishment, but fellow dancers Jada McLean said, "There are things that go on in any workplace. Situations come up, and I think the biggest thing is how you handle it. I think we did our best as a team to handle it professionally while still being supportive of her."
"As a team, I think we just kind of rallied together and kept to the job and did our best to keep things moving, because at the end of the day, we still had a job to get done and that was our goal."
As the final episode shows, Dayle essentially took a leave from the squad for a time before returning for the final 2024 Cowboys game ... and then deciding to "retire'' from DCC.
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. ... and maybe it can happen even more frequently now with a couple of new bends in the rules.
What's left to ponder here? Just one question for Jerry Jones ...
"What took you so long?''