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    The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ New Uniform Change Is a Major First

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    Watch: The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ New Uniform Change Is a Major First

    America’s sweethearts are about to shine even brighter.

    Indeed, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders revealed that its cheerleaders’ ears will now sparkle on the field after the organization officially incorporated an earring into its uniform for the first time ever.

    “Uniforms tell a story before we ever dance,” the team’s senior director Kelli Finglass said in a press release shared with USA Today Aug. 11. “In the world of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, every line, every color and every stitch has purpose. When you include a piece of jewelry, it isn’t about decoration, it’s about intention.” 

    The cheerleaders will now wear Bella Silver stud earrings by jeweler Kendra Scott—who married country singer Zac Brown in May—with the press release noting the crystal design was inspired by Texas stars, stadium lights and the energy of game day.

    “The best accessories don’t distract from the uniform, they refine it,” Finglass continued. “The Kendra Scott Bella stud is like a final touch that makes the whole picture feel complete.” 

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    Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Squad for 2026-2027 Season Revealed

    The jewelry item retails for $85, but is already sold out on Kendra Scott’s website.

    While the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have never before had an official earring, the squad’s style has evolved over the years. However, after launching the team’s iconic long blue sleeves with a white vest and white shorts in 1970, the organization has never looked back. 

    Kendra Scott

    “We bought blue and white fabric in bulk in the ’70s,” Finglass told People in 2016 alongside head choreographer Judy Trammell. “We’re still using original bolts of white fabric! The blue we’ve had to source once since.”

    Still, the cheerleaders have learned a new move or two since.

    Kendra Scott

    “Back in the ’80s we tried different hairstyles and I think our director liked that,” Trammell said, highlighting one season’s incorporation of braided pigtails. “It was sportier-looking. Now it’s about the girls being as glamorous as they can. They all wear their hair down—even in rehearsal.”

    After removing the uniform’s belt in the ‘90s, the squad brought the buckle back in 2002 before elevating it again in 2006.

    “We wanted a kind of glamorous Western buckle that included some crystals,” Finglass—who was tapped to lead the team alongside Trammell in 1991—explained. “We’ve had that design ever since.”

    As for the footwear? The team has been sporting a pair of custom white cowboy boots by Lucchese since 2011.

    “We expect the kicks to be higher and the dancing to be more joyful because these boots are a lighter weight with a softer sole,” Finglass shared. “We’ve removed the steel shank. Now that they’re more pliable that should enhance a pointed toe and a higher kick.”

    To learn more behind-the-scenes details about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, keep reading… 

    Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

    Jump Splits Look Painful Because They AreThe Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders‘ signature jump splits take their toll, according to alum Caroline Sundvold, who appeared in the first season of the Netflix docuseries American Sweethearts with her younger sister and DCC rookie Anna Kate Sundvold in 2024. A doctor told Caroline she needed surgery following four seasons of jump-splitting her joints into a permanently injured state, as she shared on the show, “but a hip surgery like that is a good three to six months recovery. I was like, ‘I really want to do one more year of cheerleading.’ I just wanted to push through.”

    Netflix

    She finally had the operation after her fifth season, Caroline noting that the sacrifice was totally worth it. But the foot surgery she underwent next was surprisingly more traumatic.”You would think hip surgery would be a little worse,” Caroline said. “But the foot has so many nerves in it. So from the [end-of-season] banquet until now I’ve just been recovering a lot, which has been a bit of a wake-up call.”

    Netflix

    None of which deterred Anna, who after making the 2023 squad was back on the roster for 2024.

    Madeline Salter/Instagram

    Ouch, but OKAmerica’s Sweetheart standout Madeline Salter, who was back cheering for the Cowboys’ 2024 NFL season, has documented more treatment sessions on her Instagram than most, including visits to Kinetic Centre, a spine and sports rehab clinic, to vanquish tension headaches and get her feet taped.Her chiropractic sports practitioner Dr. Kristina Myles noted in a post showing Salter getting worked on, “our focus is primarily correcting facial layers that can cause pain, stiffness, or loss of range of motion when injured or overworked.”

    Reece Allman/TikTok

    Don’t Quit Your Week-Day JobThe Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are always ready for some football, but the gig of a lifetime is also not the main event as far as income goes.ESPN reported in 2017 that NFL team cheerleaders made roughly $75 to $150 per game, an eye-opening moment for fans who assumed those glamorous performers were making bank. Or at least a living wage.As seen in the first season of America’s Sweethearts, DCC alum Kelcey Wetterberg is a pediatric registered nurse, while then-newcomer Reece Allman (née Weaver), who returned for the 2024 season, worked at a Dallas florist to supplement her earnings from cheerleading.According to the Dallas Morning News, cheerleader pay has since risen to closer to $400 per game, plus hourly wages for all the time spent preparing for games and making appearances.Still, DCC alum Kat Puryear said on the Netflix show, “I would say I’m making, like, a substitute teacher [salary]…I would say I’m making, like, Chick-fil-A worker that works full-time” money.

    Megan McElany/Instagram

    Calendar GirlMegan McElaney, also back for 2024, gave a video-montage glimpse of her typical day as “an NFL cheerleader with three jobs,” starting with her 6:15 a.m. wakeup call.In addition to her full-time job as a marketing/recruiting coordinator at Bluecrest Financial Alliances, per LinkedIn, she had added makeup artist for The Styling Stewardess to her resume—and when all that work is done, it’s off to AT&T Stadium for evening practice, which ends at 11 p.m.As Salter put it to E! News, “DCC has taught a lot of us about time management. We’ve got to make sure that we have time for not only our jobs and DCC, but also ourselves.”

    Netflix

    Body PoliticMaintaining peak fitness is part of the gig, but custom uniforms tailored for each cheerleader’s shape have helped the organization move past a more body-image-obsessed era.”Trying to make that uniform fit and and have the most beautiful lines, we don’t talk about weight,” DCC director since 1991 Kelli Finglass told E! News. “The girls are all very good with their own nutrition, their own personal workouts. We have a gym adjacent to our dance studio,” plus nutritionists and mental health experts available for consultation.The women are free to focus on their own personal regimens, “and we try to provide resources and educate them,” Finglass said. “We leave it at that. And I think we’re better for that.”The DCC audition FAQ section on their website advises, “You should look well-proportioned in dancewear. We DO NOT have specific height and weight requirements.”

    Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

    As the World TurnsWhile the institution has certainly evolved over the years (the star-spangled uniforms didn’t even make their debut until 1972), the DCC organization isn’t all that different from when it began.”I think everything around the cheerleaders has changed,” Finglass told the New York Times. “And they’re adapting to many things like social media and visibility. But at the core, they are world-class dancers, and a big part of what they do requires a servant’s heart. That has been the case throughout our entire history.”

    Netflix

    Ps & QsAnother resource at the ready: An etiquette coach.”They go to dinners with high-ranking military officials,” Finglass explained to the Times, “so they are put in situations that they may not have been exposed to yet as an 18- or 19-year-old from a small town.” And since people get so excited to see the DCC all around the world, she continued, “I love them learning all the different facets and being polished and poised and prepared. All I’m trying to do is give them every tool possible, so they can be confident.”

    Sophy Laufer/TikTok

    The Glam Squad? You’re Looking at ThemWhile they’re free to seek out assistance, and they have dedicated makeup artists for photo shoots, the ladies are responsible for doing their own hair and makeup before games. (Sophy Laufer, on the squad since 2022, has done a full tutorial on how she gets her glamorous game day glow on TikTok.)Among the aesthetic rules: No red lips and no red nails. Plus, hair must always be worn down, and Dallas’ Tangerine Salon has been keeping the ladies’ locks bouncy for years.

    Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

    Sheer Energy LegsYou can have the most perfectly shaped, smoothest, most blemish-free legs of all time—they’re still getting encased in nude hosiery if you’re a DCC.Also, if you have a tattoo, that’s fine—but it has to be completely masked with makeup and bronzer for games.

    Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

    Bronze MedalSpray tans are grand, but, per the DCC site, they “should be warm without orange tones and with face and body color being similar. Facial features are ‘lost’ when a spray tan is too dark.”

    John Moore/Getty Images

    They Don’t Just CheerThe DCC are also pillars of their community, which head choreographer Judy Trammell was happy to see reflected in America’s Sweethearts.She lamented that their longrunning CMT reality show Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team, which ended in 2022 after 16 seasons, “didn’t show the things we do the rest of the year,” Trammell told Entertainment Tonight. “The USO tours, the veterans hospital, the children’s hospital visits. We do so much more than has ever been seen.” 

    Netflix

    Post-Cheer Support SystemThere’s actually a squad to join after you leave the team, Finglass told E! News, “a very active and engaging alumni association that’s called The Spirit of DCC.”Because not all that unlike getting out of the military, when someone retires from cheerleading it’s admittedly “a big lifestyle change to go from seeing your teammates every night at rehearsals to not,” the DCC director explained. “That’s why we try to supplement that immediately with alumni activities. Because it is sad for all of us.”Noting that the ladies go on to share major milestones—such as weddings, and then their kids‘ weddings—for years after their cheering days are done, Finglass added, “I feel like a school teacher, and when your students graduate, you’re always excited for the new freshman class. But of course you have emotions, and you have relationships that you know are not going to be seen or felt on a daily basis.”

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