Well before the second season of America’s Sweethearts premiered on Netflix this week, I knew what I wanted to say about it. In November, I’d spent a game day embedded with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders as the Cowboys played the Texans—though “day” isn’t exactly right. The squad worked for more than 12 hours straight, pulling a shift that stretched from Monday morning to the early hours of Tuesday.

Sure, some of that time was spent on buses to and from the Star, the Cowboys’ headquarters in Frisco, Texas, and some was spent on hair and makeup. (The cheerleaders are responsible for their own professional-level glam, which demands a lot of powder and a lot of time wielding a Dyson.) But most of those hours were spent dancing: “Thunderstuck,” their pre-kick-off routine, involves both a 50-yard sprint in under eight seconds (in cowboy boots!) and chorus line jump splits. By the end of the night, the whole team was dripping in sweat and covered in blisters, their pantyhose ripped from their high kicks. Many required trainers for various muscle ailments, or to help wrap their ankles. There were dozens of ice packs, foam rollers, and empty Gatorade bottles scattered across the locker-room floor.

But there would be no rest for the pom-pom weary: They had practice the next day, and the day after that. They had all the football games, the corporate shows, the press junkets, and the Cowboys Christmas Spectacular. They had major appearances with Kacey Musgraves, at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, and at Mike Tyson’s fight with Jake Paul in Las Vegas. Netflix camera crews were everywhere, as was our team from Vogue.

Everyone stood to profit from their glamorous image—everyone, that is, except for the cheerleaders themselves. Their pay was about $15 an hour and $500 for each appearance. Most had to support themselves with other jobs. They did not have health insurance.

Once upon a time, that made a kind of sense. The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader squad as we now know it came about in the 1970s. It was advertised as a part-time gig: You had a few practices during the week and performed during the Sunday games. Half a century later, between Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football, Pro Bowls, and countless more events, the DCCC are working 30 to 40 hours a week for much of the year, and the Cowboys franchise is worth $11 billion dollars—three billion more than any other team in the National Football League. Their branding as “America’s team,” complete with an unabashed commitment to a stars-and-stripes, yeehaw aesthetic, has made their image endlessly exportable and mineable. Go anywhere in the world, and people know about the Dallas Cowboys—whether they’re winning or not. (In 2024, their record was 7-10.)