Every time Lacy Thibodeaux Fields went home, she’d be hit with a dreadful feeling. As a dancer who’d put in 10,560 hours of training in 18 years, Fields was elated when she landed a job as an Oakland Raiderettes back in 2013. A few months later, reality came crashing down. The young mother lived with the painful reminder that she had not been paid in months despite being owed $125 per game, while those on the gridiron dealt with millions. But the hardship also stretched far beyond what went down on game days.

As per a team “bible”—a detailed guide for Raiderettes’ upkeep—Lacy was expected to maintain Rachel McAdams-like auburn curls by paying $150 out of pocket at a team-approved salon, a tan, French manicure, and not weigh over 107 pounds at all times. Failure to follow these steps could easily render her unpaid at season-end. She was also expected to pay for their own transportation. The situation was hardly easy in other circles. By 2020, a total of 10 NFL teams had been accused of discrimination, unsafe working conditions, and handed unfair labor practices-related lawsuits, as per reports.

During Season 1 of Netflix’s ‘America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’, Kat Puryear, who joined the squad in 2019, admitted how her salary was no more than “a substitute teacher” or a “Chick-fil-A worker that works full time”. However, all’s well that ends well. At least for some. While Fields’ 2014 class action lawsuit led to the Raiders settling for $1.25 million for around 100 cheerleaders in September that same year, the Cowboys have also welcomed good news a decade later. As revealed on the second season (Episode 7; “Saturn Returns”) of the Netflix documentary, the cheerleaders have been awarded a 400% pay raise. “Our efforts were heard and they wanted to give us a raise. And we ended up getting a 400% increase, which is like, life-changing,” Megan McElaney, a four-year veteran, revealed. Yet, former Falcons cheerleader and wife of ex-49ers WR Chris Conley, Brianna Conley, didn’t shy away from revealing some hard facts.

Sharing a Bleacher Report post on her Instagram Stories, Conley wrote, “Wow! this is huge for the dance world.” But she didn’t stop there. In the next Stories, Conley went on to give a masterclass in NFL grind culture: $100 a game with 7 am call times and 3:30 pm wrap-ups. “We had to be hair and make-up ready by 7 am so we were up around 3/4am,” she wrote. Additionally, her schedule also included “2 nights a week practice-unpaid”, “20 Non-profit appearances per year-unpaid”, “Had to sell 20 of our own calenders-we didn’t see that $”, and finally “Games- $100”.

She followed it up with another revelation: “oo! But my last 2 years I got $125 per game because I was a captain”, before finally clarifying in the last story: “This is not a dig at Falcons Cheer. The organization and coaches were and still are one of the best. The NFL pays their talent what they can get away with paying them.”

The Cowboys might have debuted a new chapter, but there’s still a long way to go. While former cheerleader Jada McLean described the surreal feeling with, “Happy’ isn’t even the right word for it. I think I was just… kind of felt, like, a relief—like everything had paid off. And it was, you know, finally, we were done fighting,” more changes are definitely needed.

As things stand, cheerleaders still continue to work part-time jobs. They reportedly do not have health insurance benefits, with access limited to team doctors, and a prayer that nothing goes wrong. So, can the latest development be called a blueprint for what more can be done? This goes beyond fancy routines and pom-poms.

It’s about at last recognizing the silent hustle, the hours, and the sweat that go into making NFL games glamorous and picture-perfect.