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Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders union recognized, contract talks next
The team and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association announced voluntary recognition in a joint statement. No pay terms, timeline or bargaining dates have been made public.
Key takeaways
- The Dallas Cowboys have voluntarily recognized the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association (DCCA) as the squad's collective bargaining representative, according to a joint statement from the team and the union on Friday, October 23, 2026.
- The next step is negotiating a first contract. No pay terms, timeline or bargaining dates have been made public.
- NBC News reports the squad has 36 active members. It is not yet clear how many of them the union will formally represent.
- The move follows years of disputes over cheerleader pay, including a 2019 settlement and a raise of about 400% announced in 2025.
Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders union: what happened
The Dallas Cowboys have recognized the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders union, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association (DCCA), as the squad's bargaining representative, the team and union said in a joint statement on Friday, October 23, 2026. Talks on a first contract come next.
The statement was short. According to NBC News, it said the agreement followed "meaningful discussion" between the two sides. ESPN reported that the statement called the cheerleaders "an esteemed part of the Cowboys organization." NBC News published its report at about 20:50 UTC on October 23. The pop-culture account Pop Base posted "The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have unionized" on X at 20:55 UTC, and the news spread widely on social media after that.
NBC News said the DCCA is believed to be the first union among professional sports cheer squads in the United States since the Buffalo Bills' Buffalo Jills organized in the mid-1990s. A negotiated contract would make the DCCA one of very few NFL cheer squads ever to bargain collectively with a team.
What we know and what we don't know yet
| Item | Status (as of Oct 24, 2026, 02:40 UTC) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Union recognized by the team | Yes, voluntary recognition announced Oct 23 | Joint statement via ESPN, NBC News |
| Union name | Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association (DCCA) | ESPN, NBC News |
| Active squad members | 36 | NBC News |
| Number of members the union will represent | Not disclosed | NBC News |
| Affiliation with a national union | Not reported | No public information |
| Contract terms or bargaining timeline | Not disclosed | No public information |
NBC News said representatives of the team and the DCCA did not immediately respond to its requests for comment. Neither side has said what the union will ask for in bargaining.
How much do Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders make?
Pay has been the main issue behind the push to organize. The exact current pay scale has not been published, but reporting gives a rough picture of how it has changed:
- 1990s: as little as $15 per game, according to The Dallas Morning News, as cited by NBC News.
- 2019: after a settlement with a former cheerleader who sued over pay, the squad's per-game pay was doubled to $400, ESPN reported. NBC News said the lawsuit alleged pay below the minimum wage.
- 2025 season: a raise of about 400%, revealed in the second season of the Netflix series "America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders." The New York Times reported that some veteran dancers were set to earn more than $75 an hour, NBC News said.
The team did not disclose the new pay figures when the raise was announced in 2025.
Background
The squad dates to 1961 and became a professional dance team in the early 1970s, when team president Tex Schramm hired choreographer Texie Waterman, according to NBC News. Its uniform and high-kick routines made it one of the best-known cheer squads in the world.
The Netflix docuseries, first released in June 2024, followed the dancers through tryouts and the season. It drew wide attention to how little they were paid compared with the value of the franchise. ESPN noted that Forbes ranks the Cowboys as the most valuable professional sports team in the world.
Cheerleaders have tried to organize before. ESPN reported that the National Labor Relations Board ruled in 1995 that the Buffalo Jills could form a union, and they voted to join one. That squad later disbanded after former members filed a lawsuit in 2014 that alleged hundreds of hours of unpaid work and harassment.
Victor Chen, a sociologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, told ESPN that the squad's fame and the Netflix show probably helped. In his view, without that profile the team could more easily have replaced dancers, since many people are willing to take low-paid entertainment work.
What it means
Recognition gives the cheerleaders a formal seat at the table. The team must now bargain with the DCCA instead of setting terms on its own. Because the Cowboys recognized the union voluntarily, the squad did not need to go through a contested election first.
The bigger test is the first contract. Labor watchers will look at whether it sets minimum pay, paid rehearsal time, appearance fees and workplace protections. A deal at the league's most visible squad could put pressure on other NFL teams whose cheerleaders are not organized. The DCCA joins a wider wave of workers using collective bargaining, from chipmaking plants in Taiwan to the entertainment industry. Netflix, whose series brought the pay issue to a mass audience, has been in the news for its third-quarter results. For more sports news, see our coverage of Jacob Misiorowski's World Series velocity record and the Knicks championship ring phishing test.
This story is developing. Bargaining dates, contract demands and the number of members covered have not been announced.
Frequently asked questions
Do the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders have a union?
Yes. On October 23, 2026, the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association (DCCA) said in a joint statement that the team had voluntarily recognized the DCCA as the squad's collective bargaining representative.
How much do Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders make?
The current pay scale has not been published. Per-game pay was doubled to $400 after a 2019 settlement, ESPN reported, and a raise of about 400% was announced for 2025. The New York Times reported some veterans were set to earn more than $75 an hour.
What happens next for the cheerleaders' union?
The team and the DCCA will negotiate a first contract. No bargaining timeline or demands have been made public.
Are the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders the first NFL cheer squad to unionize?
No. The Buffalo Jills formed a union after a 1995 National Labor Relations Board ruling, according to ESPN. NBC News called the DCCA the first such union among pro sports cheer squads apart from that short-lived effort.
Sources
- ESPN: Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders unionize, will begin collective bargaining (Oct 23, 2026)
- NBC News: The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders are unionizing (Oct 23, 2026)
- Associated Press: Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders unionize after years of fighting for higher pay
- The Washington Post: Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders unionize after years of fighting for higher pay
- Pop Base on X (Oct 23, 2026, 20:55 UTC)
