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Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Unionize as Team Recognizes DCCA

The recognition launches formal contract talks that could reshape pay and benefits for NFL cheer squads.

Sep 27, 2026; Rio De Janeiro, BRA; The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders perform before the game against the Baltimore Ravens at Maracana Stadium.
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - SEPTEMBER 27: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders perform prior to the game against the Baltimore Ravens at Maracana Stadium on September 27, 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 11: (L-R) Marissa Leschber, McKenna Gehrke, Sophy Laufer and Charly Barby of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders perform during the premiere of Netflix's "America's Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys" at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on August 11, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Netflix)

Overview

  • The Dallas Cowboys and the newly formed Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association said Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, that the team has voluntarily recognized the DCCA as the squad’s collective bargaining representative.
  • The parties said they will begin collective bargaining to negotiate a formal contract while the exact number of cheerleaders covered and final terms such as health insurance remain to be determined.
  • Reporting credits Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts for raising public awareness of low pay and helping produce a reported 400 percent pay increase for some veterans for the 2025 season.
  • The move follows earlier legal challenges, including a 2019 settlement that doubled per-game pay, and it follows a short-lived Buffalo Jills union effort in the 1990s that later dissolved.
  • If bargaining secures sustained wages and benefits, the agreement could prompt similar organizing across NFL and pro-sports cheer squads and change how teams treat sideline performers.