NFL cheerleaders reportedly earn roughly $75-$150 per game and around $22,500 a year on average – with the famous marquee squads paying $400-$500 per game after litigation and streaming fame forced raises across the league.
Eight teams field no squad at all. Here’s the full pay picture, lawsuits included.
SPORTS SALARIES
NFL Cheerleaders
The most visible, least paid
TYPICAL GAME PAY
Roughly $75-$150
Per-game rates for most squads
SEASON AVERAGE
Roughly $22,500
A reported league-wide typical annual figure
THE TOP SQUADS
$400-$500/game
Marquee squads reportedly pay several times the norm
NO SQUAD AT ALL
8 teams
A quarter of the league has no cheerleaders
NFL cheerleader pay, itemized
The sideline’s most scrutinized paycheck
| Item |
Detail |
| Per-game rates |
Most squads reportedly pay roughly $75-$150 per game, with rehearsal time paid at modest hourly rates on top |
| The season total |
The commonly cited league-wide average lands around $22,500 a year – for a role demanding dozens of practice hours weekly in season |
| Appearances |
Public and corporate appearances add roughly $50-$75 each – a meaningful chunk of total earnings for busy squads |
| The marquee tier |
The most famous squads reportedly pay $400-$500 per game after recent raises, with squad leaders earning up to roughly $75,000 – documentary fame turned into leverage |
| The lawsuit era |
Wage-theft and working-condition lawsuits against multiple teams forced pay reforms across the league – the raises of the last decade were litigated, not gifted |
| The 8 holdouts |
The Bills, Bears, Browns, Packers, Giants, Jets, Chargers and Steelers field no cheerleading squad at all |
The economics behind the number
Why the pay is what it is
| Angle |
Detail |
| Part-time by design |
Nearly all NFL cheerleaders hold full-time jobs or studies – teams classify the role as part-time regardless of the real hour count |
| The hours math |
Practices, games, appearances and prep famously add up to something close to a second job – the per-hour reality drove the lawsuits |
| History runs deep |
The Baltimore Colts fielded the first NFL squad in 1954 – seven decades of tradition, most of it unpaid or barely paid |
| The visibility paradox |
Among the most televised performers in American sports, and among the lowest paid people in the stadium – the gap IS the story |
CHEERLEADER PAY FACTS
Settlements moved the market
Reported six-figure lawsuit settlements did more for cheerleader pay than any negotiation – the legal era rewrote the rate card.
The docuseries effect
Streaming fame gave top squads public leverage – raises followed the ratings.
Tryouts still overflow
Hundreds audition for a few dozen spots on famous squads – prestige keeps supply high and wages low.
A Paycheck Rewritten by Lawsuits
The modern rate card exists because cheerleaders sued for it: wage-theft and working-condition cases against multiple franchises through the 2010s produced settlements, reforms and raises that lifted per-game pay from token amounts toward today’s figures – still modest against the hours, and transformed from where it was. The contrast with the sideline’s other salaries – see what NFL coaches earn – remains the sharpest pay gap in the stadium. Figures are reported; teams don’t publish squad pay. League operations info lives at NFL Football Operations.
The Bottom Line
Roughly $75-$150 a game and about $22,500 a year for most, $400-$500 a game at the famous top, zero squads on eight teams – NFL cheerleading pays a fraction of its visibility, and every raise in its history was fought for.
