Collective bargaining is next for the iconic squad that, as recently as 2024, earned just $15 an hour.

By Jonathan Small | edited by Dan Bova | Oct 30, 2026

It’s been a winning week for the Dallas Cowboys. A few days before the team beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-21 on Monday Night Football, its cheerleaders announced that the franchise had officially recognized their union .

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Association will now serve as the squad’s collective bargaining representative, according to NBC News . “The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are an esteemed part of the Cowboys organization, deeply respected for the talent and dedication they exhibit,” the two sides said in a joint statement. The Buffalo Jills unionized in 1995, but the squad later disbanded, making the Cowboys squad’s union the only active one in the NFL.

Pay has been a fumble for years, and Netflix’s “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders” put it in the spotlight.…