Are The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders America's Mommies?
Thoughts on America's Sweethearts
Late to the party, I recently binged the Netflix series about the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. America’s Sweethearts reveals much about ideals of femininity, bodies, emotional labor, and the value of women’s work. But in one relatively brief speech in the first episode, Charlotte Jones, chief brand officer and co-owner of the Cowboys (alongside her billionaire oil tycoon father), tells us everything we need to know about why DCC is so legion and why we’re culturally very comfortable paying women either nothing at all for their work, or in the case of DCC, very, very little.
Before we get into Jones’ speech, here are some relevant facts.
According to the Dallas Cowboys’ owner, Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders (DCC) bring in an excess of one million dollars to the Dallas Cowboys franchise annually.
Each member of DCC earns roughly $15,000.00 for a season with extra money (unclear as to how much) for special appearances and promotions, or, as one cheerleader says in the series, as much as a substitute teacher or a Chick-fil-A worker.
Most “water boys” in the NFL make almost 55K a year.
The Dallas Cowboys franchise is worth 9 billion (BILLION not million) dollars.
Jerry Jones is worth roughly 15 billion dollars (again BILLION not million).
According to one source (below), Charlotte Jones makes 1.5 million a year. According to Times, Charlotte Jones’ exact salary is unknown, but “the Dallas Morning News reported that Jones’ ex-husband Shy Anderson testified that the former couple had a total income of about $1.34 billion during their 30-plus years of marriage.” By all accounts and metrics, Charlotte Jones is rich AF.
So it’s fucking HILARIOUS to me that Ms. Jones starts her sanctimonious speech about the honor and sisterhood of the DCC by saying “there’s a lot of cynicism around pay for NFL cheerleaders.”
