Courtesy of Ninernoise.com

ABC 7 News reported that a former San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush cheerleader filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all NFL cheerleaders against the NFL as a whole. The 49ers and the Oakland Raiders were in particular named among the defendants.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco just days ahead of the Super Bowl.

This lawsuit could be worth $300 million in damages against the league.

According to the lead plaintiff, who does not want her name used, NFL executives and team owners are conspiring to keep cheerleaders’ wages low. Some cheerleaders claim they are getting paid as little as $5,000 a year.

“The cheerleading life looks quite glamorous. But I think once they see the number that’s attached to that, it’s not what you think at all,” said the lead plaintiff as she spoke to ABC news.

Drexel Bradshaw, plaintiff’s attorney, said, “The NFL and its member teams have intentionally conspired together to thwart competition so that they could pay these women illegally.”

The lawsuit also claims that NFL teams paid cheerleaders around $100 per game, a stark contrast to the $6.4 billion a year NFL players earn collectively just last year. Many cheerleaders say that they aren’t getting paid for their rehearsal time and mandatory public appearances, often making this small per-game earning their only source of income for their efforts.

The suit alleges that in a further effort to suppress wages, the NFL has also prohibited these female athletes from discussing their wages with each other. It was also stated in the lawsuit that team mascots earn $25,000 – $65,000 per year and often receive benefits.

Though not the main plaintiff, Caitlyn Yates, a former Oakland Raiders cheerleader for 5 years, commented on the issue.

In an interview, she said, “So when I was on the team, we would be paid $125 per game. And we would be paid that amount in one lump sum at the end of the season which was for 10 home games – it would be $1,250 minus fines. We would be fined for all sorts of things. Sometimes, if you’re missing a certain number of practices, you could be fined $40 for that. So that all comes out of your paycheck at the end.”

Yates mentioned that cheerleaders are not asking to be paid like football players. But if one looks at the wages of team mascots, it’s simply not fair for the value that cheerleaders bring to their teams.

She also voiced that cheerleaders often feel discriminated against and that it’s time for them to be paid their fair market value.

A similar issue has been raised in 2014 in which NFL teams such as the Cincinnati Bengals, Oakland Raiders, and Buffalo Bills were sued.

Flavia Berys, a former NFL cheerleader who is now an attorney and author of the book “Professional Cheerleading Audition Secrets,” cautions: “These suits could herald the end of NFL (and possibly NBA) cheerleading as we know it… Team management suspended the Buffalo Jills cheer squad in 2014 just days after plaintiffs sued the Buffalo Bills. Who knows what will happen now because of this lawsuit? The NFL could decide to do away with professional cheerleading on its sidelines altogether. And if that happens, a lot of women who dreamed of one day cheering for the pros will not longer have that opportunity. If the allegations that the NFL conspired with teams to keep cheerleader wages low are true, then this is clearly wrong and a huge problem. The lawsuit argues that the forces of supply and demand would have driven the wages upwards and that an illegal conspiracy kept them artificially low. But it’s also possible that supply and demand kept the wages low: Hundreds of candidates show up at pro cheer auditions for a handful of coveted spots, despite low pay. The teams could probably fill their sidelines with qualified dancers even if the positions were unpaid. It’s hard to argue that wages are low due to conspiracy when thousands of people would volunteer for the position and do it as a hobby.”

Flavia Berys continues, “I love the sport of professional cheerleading and would love nothing more than to see it become a highly paid and respected position. I do hope that all of this attention results in higher wages for all cheerleaders and that it trickles down to even the college ranks where many cheerleading programs do not receive the same scholarship opportunities as other sports. So I’m hopeful that this lawsuit leads to higher wages and better opportunities for all cheerleaders at all levels, yet I’m also fearful it could cause teams to terminate their cheer programs due to fear of liability and future litigation. We will see what ends up happening.” (Flavia can be reached for further comment at www.beryslaw.com).

The lead plaintiff in this newest lawsuit shares the hope for higher wages for cheerleaders past and present: “I hope that the lawsuit helps the women of the future, the women of the past. We’ve all put the same amount of energy, passion, and training. There’s so much into it, that I just want them to know their worth – to not be taken for granted and to be given what they deserve.”

There is no comment as of this point from the NFL. According to an NFL spokesperson, the league was not aware of the lawsuit.