A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem

5 years ago, a rash of lawsuits came out involving cheerleaders suing NFL Teams for wage theft, illegal employment practices and discrimination. In almost every case, the suits were settled without any work stoppages but that wasn't the case in regards to the Buffalo Jills. Why things were different for them was due mostly to the fact that they weren't run by the NFL team they represented. The other lawsuits had one defendant...the teams the cheerleaders represented. The Raiderettes sued the Raiders, the Flight Crew sued the Jets, and so on. Most casual observers don't realize that the Jills had been contracted out since the 80s...Mighty Taco, Salvatore's, a travel agency, Citadel Radio, and finally Stejon Productions, a company formed in 2012 expressly to run the Jills. The Jills lawsuit has 4 defendants named...the Bills because they are the team the Jills have represented, the NFL because Commissioner Roger Goodell's signature is on the contracts that each Jills signed when joining the squad, Citadel Radio, which ran the squad from 2000-2011, and Stejon Productions, which took control of the Jills in 2012 when the Bills radio rights switched from Cumulus Media (which had taken over Citadel in 2011) to Entercom Communications.
Something else that doesn't seem to be widely known is that the Bills did not shut down the Jills. What happened is that when the allegations of mistreatment came to light when the lawsuit went public, the Bills took back an offer of $30,000 to help ensure the Jills would finally get paid for their services on gamedays. Other sponsors followed suit and when no one else could be found quickly to take their places, Stejon Productions shut down Jills operations.
Sometime later, filmmaker Yu Gu started work on a documentary on the lawsuits and the underlying issues that brought them about. Her work finally came to fruition recently when the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. I've yet to see the film myself so I can't write a review but I can share a few links about the film, including a review and a podcast about the film.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-nfl-cheerleaders-speak-out-against-sexism-and-abuse-we-deserve-to-be-respected
https://variety.com/2019/film/festivals/a-womans-work-the-nfls-cheerleader-problem-review-1203202499/#respond
http://www.projectionboothpodcast.com/2019/04/special-report.html?&m=1
Personally, I've tried to stay neutral on the lawsuit as I know former Jills on all sides of the issue...the ladies who were part of the original 5-Jill lawsuit, some of the 74 who joined in the class action suit, some who support the goals of the suit but not the suit itself and some who are opposed to all of it. Unfortunately there's been a lot of vitriol sent towards the girls who sued because things were different for them than for the girls who sued.

I do have 2 things that need to be said, however.

1 is that no one wanted to shut down the Jills, not the girls who sued and not the person who made the decision to do so.

The other is that no 2 girls deal with identical situation to. Rules changed from year to year and no 2 girls were treated exactly alike...that part is human nature. I know that I my 7 years working closely with the squad, I treated everyone fairly but I'd be lying if I treated everyone exactly the same. I knew some better than I knew others whether it be because they were around longer or they treated me differently than others did.

As to the future of the Jills and how quickly they can finally return, it's hard to say. The lawsuits will have to be settled and then there's the issue of Stejon Productions. After the rash of lawsuits, the San Francisco 49ers, who had also contracted out their cheerleaders, the Gold Rush, did away with that arrangement. Even though they had no issues, they didn't want to risk an outside company abusing their cheerleaders the way Stejon was accused of doing to the Jills. Once the suits are settled, the question about running the squad will remain. The Pegulas would be insane to contract them out again but are their issues in the contract with Stejon that would make it tough to run the squad themselves?

'The NFL's Cheerleader Problem' and the Buffalo Jills: What happened?

NEW YORK – Maria Pinzone stepped onto a red carpet at the Tribeca Film Festival and posed for a smattering of photographers. Frame it a certain way and this seems glamorous, which can also be said of her former job: NFL cheerleader.
Pinzone was a Buffalo Jill for one year. She spent the 2012 Buffalo Bills season dancing on the sidelines just yards away from muscled, multimillion-dollar, head-smashing football players. Much like a paparazzi-lined red carpet, that can seem glamorous, too.
Read the rest at https://buffalonews.com/2019/06/12/the-nfls-cheerleader-problem-and-the-buffalo-jills-what-happened/

Buffalo Jills Alumni are Alive and (still) Kicking

It’s been a while since we heard anything about the Buffalo Jills. Would you agree? That’s why, when a former Jills’ cheerleader by the name of Sue Dougherty reached out to tell us about her ongoing passion for the former cheer squad, I was all ears. Dougherty, it turns out, is a member of the Buffalo Jill’s Alumni Association – an outfit that has hundreds of members. Today, Dougherty is the event coordinator for the group, and is on the hook for arranging the various charitable outings.
Read more at https://www.buffalorising.com/2019/05/buffalo-jills-alumni-are-alive-and-still-kicking/

Updates in the NFL Cheerleading world

The last few weeks, the heat has been turned up in the fight to ensure that NFL Cheerleaders are given the respect they deserve. A Saints cheerleader was kicked off the Saintsations for posting a lingerie photo on Instagram and members of the Washington Redskins cheerleaders allege that they were subject to very disturbing treatment on an unpaid week-long trip to Costa Rica including the temporary confiscation of their passports while they were there, acting as escorts for male sponsors at nightclub events, and topless photo shoots to name a few.
Regarding what happened with the Saintsations, there are certain rules in place to protect the cheerleaders but at the same time, as someone who used to work closely with 2 professional cheerleading squads, sometimes the rules can seem a bit heavy-handed. This young lady's account was a personal private account not accessible by non-followers and unless she was identifying herself as a professional cheerleader on that account, this might be a case of heavy-handedness. One of the rules that some feel may be excessive is about posting photos in team gear, identifying themselves publicly as professional cheerleaders. There is a very solid reason for that in the form of stalkers. This is a very real danger and it's not like pro cheerleaders generally have the resources to hire security firms to protect them. NFL players do, however. Even before I worked closely with the Jills, I was keeping an eye out to ensure last names weren't getting published online and corresponding regularly with the Jills director in the case of any issues in that regard.
The anti-fraternization policy that exists across the NFL seems a bit one-sided in my opinion. Cheerleaders aren't to have personal relationships of any type with players but players aren't penalized for pursuing cheerleaders at all. That's something that needs to change, IMO. There are sexual harassment guidelines in every workplace and there should be those same guidelines applied to professional athletes as well. In the majority of workplaces, sexual harassment complaints can cause suspensions and terminations. While it's doubtful that an NFL team will cut a player for hitting on a cheerleader, suspensions and fines would be reasonable for a player who doesn't take it to extremes. Obviously if anyone, even a player, gets carried away, criminal charges could and should be filed.
In regards to what has happened in Washington, and Costa Rica, other Redskins cheerleaders have claimed none of that ever happened. Here's the problem with their claim...in no way, shape, or form do all cheerleaders go through all the same experiences as everyone else on their squad, whether they cheered together or not. Much was made of the "jiggle test" that was brought up in the Buffalo Jills lawsuit and a Jills cheerleader who had been on the squad from 2007-2009 said that they never went through that type of test. Rules change and what may have been the norm in 2009 might not have been in 2012. I recall when I first started working closely with the Jills and remarked about how much turnover there had been since the year before. To that, the director mentioned that the nice thing about having a lot of turnover is the lack of an uproar over rules changes.
Regarding the actual claims from the Redskins cheerleaders, they are disturbing to say the least. Confiscating their passports seems to serve no purpose other than to exert extra control over them and the toplessness serves no purpose at all. If there are photos to be taken for the calendar that will be topless, but showing nothing, the security should be strict around the shoot and obviously it has to be something that the cheerleader is completely at ease with. That means no one should be getting access to the shoot who isn't integral to the shoot. I don't care how much a sponsor is donating. In regards to being forced to escort men to nightclubs, I have to say I'm disgusted by the very idea.
With the Jills, the only escorting type stuff I'm aware of was on the golf course and while there were complaints brought up in the lawsuit, I personally never saw any issues. Groups that had gotten a Jill to join them on the course frequently had an extra golf cart with their group so there weren't issues about sitting on laps. The closest I ever saw to that was when we got a bit of a rainburst in 2011 and 2 of the Jills rode back to the clubhouse with me, with me behind the wheel and the 2 of them close together in the passenger seat.
Were there any issues when I was working with the Jills? To be honest, there were a few dance routines I was uncomfortable with because while I always treated everyone in a professional manner, I was also protective of them like family. Beyond that, I can't really say. I won't claim to know everything that everyone went through. Some girls voluntarily shared more with me about their experiences than others did but no two went through everything the same way.
In response to these and other issues, some NFL cheerleaders are looking to meet with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to have an open discussion on addressing these and other issues in regards to treatment of NFL Cheerleaders. Reportedly, the NFL is open to these discussions but whether or not Goodell will be involved is unclear at this time.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/23412045/nfl-open-discussions-cheerleaders-improving-their-working-conditions
What does this mean for the Jills? Maybe nothing, maybe a lot. It's hard to say. With 4 separate defendants in the lawsuit and also the matter of an outside company under contract to run the Jills, we could still be waiting a while longer to see the case resolved and a return to the sidelines.

Bandettes tryouts upcoming

The Buffalo Bandits today announced the Buffalo Bandettes will be holding auditions for the 2017-18 squad. The dance team, run by newly appointed coordinator Lauren Kirchmyer, is looking for 12 dancers to perform at all of the Bandits’ home games.

Kirchmyer rejoins the dance team as the new Bandettes Coordinator after spending four seasons as a Bandette from 2011 to 2015. She was a captain, dancer and choreographer for the Bandettes during that span and has been a dance educator in the Western New York area since 2009.

The tryouts will take place on Saturday, Nov. 4 from 2 to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 5, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Steppin’ Out Dance Academy, located at 266 Center Rd., West Seneca, N.Y. 14224. Dancers must register online and pay a $25 fee in order to be entered into the tryouts.
http://www.bandits.com/article/BANDETTES%20HIRE%20NEW%20COORDINATOR,%20WILL%20HOLD%20AUDITIONS
I worked with Lauren during her 4 seasons on the squad and she's one of the most qualified young women to take this position that the Bandits could possibly choose.