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Health & Fitness

NFL cheerleaders sue for non payment!

I have previously written blogs on patch as a former NFL cheerleader and my experiences, so I had to comment on these recent news articles I have listed in this  article.

The recent news is that the team that I cheered for, The Buffalo Bills, is now being sued by five girls for non payment.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/24/buffalo-bills-cheerleader_n_5209277.html

there are 32 teams in the NFL and seven of them don't have cheerleaders. Why? The answer is they are just not in the franchise.  These teams are: the Bears, Browns, Lions, Packers, Giants, Jets and the Steelers. 

While NFL players are getting paid thousands (The New Orleans Saints are paying Drew Brees $40 million) of dollars per game. The cheerleaders are generally paid about $70 to $90 per game.  After two preseason games and eight regular-season home games, most cheerleaders earn about $500 to $750 per season, depending on which team they cheer for and whether that team plays any additional home games in the playoffs.  The Buffalo Jills are not payed anything but for personal appearances.

Now this is interesting , in my research I found out that NFL mascots get paid anywhere between $23,000 and $65,000 per year, and that’s not including benefits or yearly bonuses.

A player on an NFL team’s practice squad makes around $100,000 for the season. These players never set foot on the field during a game. Still,  they make $6250 per game. 

I found out the amounts the teams actually made in a typical year: Redskins ($1.56 billion), Patriots ($1.4 billion) and Giants ($1.3 billion). 

Forbes recently listed the Dallas Cowboys as the No. 2 most valuable sports franchise, and highest in the NFL valued at US$1.65 billion. Through the years, the franchise has found ways to make money off of its cheerleaders.  It is reported that a squad does bring in an extra US$1 million per season.  

The Cowboys have marketed their cheerleaders through merchandise. They also run a camp every summer for aspiring cheerleaders where the team makes a reported US$500,000 per season. But despite being the most famous cheerleaders in the world, the Cowboys cheerleaders only make a reported US $150 per game, which is towards the bottom-tier of the league in salary.

It is interesting in this day and age that women (there have been some male cheerladers also) are still that undervalued, unless they are the mascot, then they are making a legal wage.  

Tell me your thoughts...


http://www.therichest.com/sports/football-sports/nfls-cheerleaders-salary/


http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Bengals-Cheerleader-Sues-Team-Following-Oakland-Raiderettes-Cla...

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