NEED TO KNOW

• The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders “Boot Buddy” reveals are going viral on TikTok
• Cheerleader Kleine Powell explained the sorority-style tradition as the DCC version of a “Big-Little”
• Another member of the squad clarified that despite the name, shoe size doesn’t enter into the pairing process

The Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders are saying “howdy partner” to their new “Boot Buddies,” and the Internet has questions.

Between the famed “Thunderstruck” choreography and the iconic blue-and-white uniforms, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders are known for loving a good tradition. Now, their much-anticipated “Boot Buddy” reveal is the latest trend to go viral on social media.

It’s hard to scroll TikTok without a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader excitedly uniting with another DCC member for the tradition that’s comparable to a college greek life concept, as explained by Kleine Powell in a video shared in July 2024.

“So I got a couple questions last night because we got Boot Buddies, and so a lot of people were asking, ‘What the heck is a Boot Buddy?’ ” she said in the clip. “So a Boot Buddy is basically the DCC version of a sorority Big-Little.”

Powell, who first made the squad in 2021, gave insight into the reveal process — noting how it’s initially a secret, hence the big reveal — and shed light into the gift-giving tradition, too.

“Before practice, we got to set out little gifts that we had made and write notes with clues in them to see if they could try and guess who we are before we did the whole reveal,” she shared. “So I thought I’d be sneaky and take a secret little video of my boot buddies… which they saw immediately.”

The video then cuts to a clip of two DCC rookie candidates, Trinity and Kayla G, at rehearsal opening up their gift bags and reading their cards. They try to piece together the clues written down — “we are the best of the Midwest” — in attempt to guess their Boot Buddy’s identity.

The guessing girls then slip on a customized outfit that was inside the gift bag and close their eyes as their Boot Buddies line up behind them. Then, the rookie candidates turn around to see the veterans they’re paired with standing behind them for the big reveal.

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Longtime DCC Director Kelli Finglass, who’s been at helm of the squad since 1991, broke down the tradition in a deleted clip from an episode of the CMT show, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team, filmed in 2020.

“Boot Buddies are like a big sister, like maybe in a sorority or a group, where you have somebody that has some experience that can help the rookie,” Finglass explained. “They are there to kind of help relieve anxieties, answer questions… all the little questions that they’re afraid to ask a staff member.”

“And to encourage them,” she continued, adding, “It’s exciting for the rookie candidate and it’s very rewarding for the veteran candidate.

Every year, the DDC Boot Buddy reveal takes place during the fourth and final stage of the audition process: training camp. Both rookie and veteran candidates can be cut in that stage, so performance perfection is a must.

Despite the “Boot Buddy” name, Charly Barby — a DCC veteran who first joined the team during the 2024-2025 season — explained on TikTok that the pairings have nothing to do with the actual footwear the cheerleaders wear during games, nor do sizes dictate partners.

“A boot buddy is like a big/little in a sorority!! 💙 Nothing to do with boot size haha but that would be super cute!” she wrote in the comment section in response to a TikTok user’s question asking about the tradition.

Boot Buddies, in fact, are more than just a pairing — it’s a grouping. Barby’s Boot Buddies this year are rookie candidate Morgan Perschy and veterans Lea Tunnell and Abby Summers.

Elsewhere in the comment section of Barby’s TikTok video, she clarified that her grouping is similar to the one she had when she audition her rookie year.

In response to a TikTok user who asked, “Did you join the same boot buddy family you did your first year of training camp?” Barby replied, “Yes!!! Jada & Lea had me my first tc & got me back my second tc 🥹🥹.”

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The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders have been dominating TikTok in recent weeks since the season 2 release of Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts, the hit series that chronicles the behind the scenes of the iconic NFL cheer squad from auditions to game day.

While the famed franchise has topped headlines for their strict rules and guidelines over the years, the team was highlighted in season 2 after squad veterans banded together to fight for higher salaries, resulting in a “life-changing” 400% pay increase for the upcoming 2025-26 season.

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