NFL’s alternate ‘cheerleaders’
Some teams have women whose primary task is to charm fans at games, other events.
Several NFL teams determined cheerleading programs had a scarcity problem on game days. If cheerleaders were on the sideline dancing, none was available to serve as scantily clad hostesses who could mingle with fans high up in the cheap seats or in the luxury suites, where teams catered to bigmoney customers.
To address that shortcoming, some teams created a different kind of cheerleading team — one whose members did not do any cheering or require any dance training. They were hired mainly for their appearance. Their visits with male fans, the teams believed, produced a better game day experience, akin to the approach of the Hooters restaurant chain.
In interviews with a dozen women who have worked for NFL teams as noncheering cheerleaders and six others who had direct knowledge of the noncheering squads, they described minimum-wage jobs in which harassment and groping were common, particularly because the women were required to be on the front lines of partying fans. The fans had no reason to believe these women were not actual cheerleaders because the women often dressed exactly like the cheerleaders dancing on the field or nearly the same.
“It’s a really big secret, and now you know about it,” said Jackie Chambers, 33, a model with more than a decade of experience who worked as a Houston Texans noncheering cheerleader last season. “But teams don’t want fans to know about it. All of the cheerleaders are supposed to blend in with each other.”
The Texans, the New England Patriots, the New Orleans Saints and the Washington Redskins are among the NFL teams that use or have used an alternate roster of so-called cheerleaders whose primary task is to charm spectators at the game.
Promotional models
The Patriots have auditions for cheerleader promotional models, but after the cheerleading roster is set, the women — dancers and models — are grouped together. The team features both its models and its cheerleaders in its annual cheerleaders calendar.
The Baltimore Ravens don’t hide the existence of a team of women — called the Playmakers — who might look and dress like cheerleaders but are actually marketers. An application for this season’s Playmakers asked for body measurements including bust size.
The Redskins use their cheerleader ambassadors — their name for noncheering cheerleaders — in their promotional material for luxury suite sales. Their suites, like others in the NFL, provide a huge chunk of guaranteed revenue for the team, as each suite could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per season. In the Redskins’ online sales video for these suites, they feature photos of suite owners posing with the team’s cheerleader ambassadors. Having close interaction with the ambassadors is a tacit perk of the elite club. As a voice-over in the video says, “membership has its privileges,” the video pans over a photo of a woman in a bikini.
The treatment of NFL cheerleaders has attracted national attention recently. Several former cheerleaders have filed legal complaints — included one former Texans cheerleader on May 21 — and dozens of others in interviews with The New York Times described a hostile work environment in which they were used as sex symbols for male fans. Many of them said they remained committed to the job because they enjoyed the one activity they signed up for: cheerleading at games.
Many of the same grievances are held by the women on the alternate squads that do not cheer. Most of the women on these separate teams of models spoke on condition of anonymity because they had signed confidentiality agreements with the teams.
Bruce Allen, the Redskins’ president, said the team was continuing the investigation of accusations related to the cheerleading program and would “take all appropriate action” upon its completion. “We are committed to ensuring that all Redskins employees, including our cheerleaders and ambassadors, are treated with the upmost respect,” he said in a statement provided by the team’s spokesman.
Image is fading
The concept of women-as-accessories to men’s sporting events has begun to fade. The Formula One auto racing circuit announced in January that it would stop using “grid girls,” the models in revealing outfits who roam the race’s starting area. They have been a staple of the sport for decades, but the “custom does not resonate with our brand values and clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms,” Sean Bratches, a Formula One managing director, said.
Some of the most prestigious professional cycling races have stopped using “podium girls,” who kiss the riders’ cheeks in the awards area and hand out prizes. The Vuelta a España ended the tradition last year and the Tour of California did so this year. Tour of California officials said the decision was made to “do the right thing.” The Tour de France said it might also no longer use podium girls.
But the NFL has veered in the opposite direction, led by the Redskins, who were among the pioneers of using attractive women to ostensibly work as cheerleaders but, as one former ambassador put, actually serve as “eye candy” for male fans.
Around the early-to-mid 2000s, the Redskins began hiring women as ambassadors from the group of women who didn’t make the cheerleading squad, and they still do today. The tryouts haven’t changed much, if at all. In an extra judging session, those women were required, like pageant contestants, to walk in bikinis in front of suite holders and sponsors who held score sheets. They also had to answer several questions that showed that, as the Redskins’ website stated, they had “great public relations skills.”
“The Redskins wanted to come up with extra ways to make money, so they dreamed up the idea of the ambassadors,” said one woman who was one. “We were made to look almost exactly like cheerleaders, but we weren’t a member of that society. We didn’t get the perks of dancing. We were just low-paid, underappreciated, exploited moneymakers in a huge moneymaking scheme.”
She added: “We wore lowcut tops with cutouts and your butt cheeks would be sticking out the back. That’s how they sell the suites.”
The ambassadors were an inexpensive way to monetize the cheerleader concept. They weren’t invited on the annual calendar shoot held on an exotic beach. They didn’t require hours of practice to perfect their routines or multiple uniforms for game day dances. While the cheerleaders’ white boots had rhinestone-encrusted heels, the ambassadors had to buy the rhinestones and glue them on to their own boots during a night billed as “team bonding.”
No dance training
Chambers, the former Texans cheerleader, was hired as an appearance team cheerleader, and the mention of “appearance-only cheerleader” was written into the team’s contract. She had no formal training as a dancer, but said she gave it a try as “a face of the team” because she was eager to interact with the community, especially with charities.
The Texans required their cheerleaders to work 50 promotional appearances each year, with the team earning tens of thousands of dollars for them, per cheerleader, while the women earned $7.25 an hour. Chambers hoped that many of those events would entail meeting children or visiting the military, and those appearances became “one of the few highlights” of her season.
Once inside the organization, Chambers said, she became dismayed by what she saw. She said the team’s coach, Alto Gary, verbally and emotionally abused the cheerleaders, and three of her teammates have confirmed that Gary treated the women poorly. It was unheard-of to say anything back to Gary, though, because “arguing or showing disrespect” to the coach was forbidden, according to their contract.
Two weeks ago, one of Chambers’ teammates filed a lawsuit over pay and abuse, and Chambers intends to join the suit as a plaintiff if the case is certified as a class-action lawsuit.
In a statement, the Texans said: “We are proud of the cheerleader program and have had hundreds of women participate and enjoy their experience while making a positive impact in the local community. We are constantly evaluating our procedures and will continue to make adjustments as needed to make the program enjoyable for everyone.”
Before one game, Chambers and two of her teammates said, Gary taped a cheerleader’s stomach with thick tape to make it appear flatter under her shorts.
“That was a memory that was so vivid, I’ll never forget it,” Chambers said. “I can’t believe that it was even happening, but the girl did as she was told. It was exactly like a master controlling a puppet.”
Once game starts
The appearance team cheerleaders would be on the field for player introductions or special events like giveaway contests, but once the game began, they would head into the crowd and into the suites. In the suites, women would “get touched a lot because the men are intoxicated and think they can try anything,” she said.
She often would go into the stands to give fans prizes, like coupons for free furniture or tacos for a year. On one occasion, a fan ran his hands over her crotch. She notified a police officer and told the team, she said, but nothing was done about it.
At the team’s year-end meeting in April, Chambers said the women were given Starbucks gift cards in appreciation for their hard work. When Chambers tried to use the card, though, the cashier handed it back to her.
“Sorry, this card was never even registered,” the cashier said. “It’s a zero balance.”
When Chambers checked with her teammates, some said their cards had $5 on them.
“All of us said, wow, the Texans must have really appreciated us,” Chambers said. “We were laughing, but crying.”