Former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Kristin Westbrook is revealing just how much she actually earned during her three-season stint on the famed dance team.
“When I was on the team, it was: hourly for practice [of] $15/hour,” Kristin wrote via her Instagram Stories on Saturday, June 21, adding that she and other cheerleaders would also get “flat fees” for various other performances.
According to Kristin, DCC athletes were paid a $400 fee for NFL games and another “flat fee” for other appearances and meet-and-greets.
“Flat fee for appearances — $100 (x # of years on the team),” she added, noting a rookie would make $100, while a second-year veteran would earn $200 and so on.
Kristin cheered for the Cowboys from 2019 to 2022, alongside America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders veterans Kelcey Wetterberg, Victoria Kalina and Chandi Dayle.
Throughout the first two seasons of Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts, many of the cheerleaders revealed that they were barely paid minimum wage for their DCC tenure. They often needed to supplement their income elsewhere, and many stars took on two or three other jobs.
“I would say I’m making, like, a substitute teacher [salary],” DCC alum Kat Puryear said during season 1. “I would say I’m making, like, [the same as a] Chick-fil-A worker that works full-time.”
Going into the 2024-2025 season, vets Jada McLean, Megan McElaney and Amanda Howard led the charge to advocate for higher pay. At the end of season 2, their efforts were successful and earned the group a “400 percent” salary increase.
“It’s a tough topic to start to have conversations [about],” Jada, 25, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the season 2 premiere earlier this month. “We were pretty serious, as leaders, this was something that we really wanted to see a change happen.”
She added, “It was the beginning of the season and we also had a great group of rookies who just wanted to cheer. So it was [hard] navigating how we wanted to have this positive change without affecting people who just worked so hard. But [the rookies] understood we were looking out for them and their futures as cheerleaders as well as the women that come after us.”
While Jada retired at the end of last season, she fought so that the DCC members following in her footsteps would be better off.
“I can’t go into too much detail, but I will say there’s an increase all around when it comes to hourly and appearance fees and just everything as a whole,” Jada told Us. “It’s a very great change and I think the girls are gonna benefit a lot from it moving forward. … It’s gonna take a lot of the financial stresses out of their lives, which is something that we wanted to see.”
She continued, “I’ve struggled financially on this team and that was something that I didn’t want anyone else to have to deal with while they’re cheerleaders. I think they’re in a good position moving forward.”
Jada and her cohorts had gone above director Kelli Finglass and choreographer Judy Trammell’s heads to seek raises from the Cowboys’ legal and HR teams directly.
“My goal was to keep the team’s momentum forward moving, and that’s exactly what we did,” Kelli told Us, referring to the cheerleaders’ rumored plans for a walkout if their demands weren’t met. “We stayed focused on the job at hand. We knew there were some discussions going on. We also know that every spring, we reevaluate as an organization — all things on all programs. We’re thrilled that the girls are happy with the enhancements that are made. We had a great season with the cheerleaders.”
Kelli, 60, and Judy, 67, are currently running their annual and coveted training camp to select the next class of DCC cheerleaders for the 2025-2026 NFL season.
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is streaming on Netflix.
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