A domino effect of lawsuits started in 2014 with 90 former Oakland Raiders cheerleaders filing a class-action lawsuit for being paid less than minimum wage (about $125 per game day), for which they received a $1.25 million settlement. Then, cheerleaders for the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers followed suit. Then, a group of former cheerleaders filed against the NFL as a whole in 2017, alleging that there were stark differences between how cheerleaders and mascots were paid (ranging between $25,000 and $60,000 a year).
As of December 2020, 10 of the 26 NFL teams with cheerleaders had been sued. The documentary, “A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem,” released in early 2021 uncovered a wide range of issues that NFL cheerleaders faced since those very first women stepped onto the Baltimore field. One of the most difficult details to learn: They were subjected to a weekly “jiggle test” to make sure every inch of their body was up to standard.
