Washington Football Team replaces cheerleaders with coed dance squad

[underpants]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30996155/washington-football-team-replaces-cheerleaders-dance-squad

ASHBURN, Va. -- The Washington Football Team has discontinued its cheerleader program after more than 50 years, replacing it with a coed dance squad as part of its rebranding effort.

“ As we set out to modernize the Washington Football gameday, it's important that we develop a top-notch entertainment program that keeps our fanbase excited and connected to the game and the team," Wright said.

Washington started using cheerleaders in 1962 and they eventually became known as the First Ladies of Football. They represented the franchise at events locally and around the world, especially military bases. Pope said she's not yet sure whether the dance squad would travel.

Pope said there are no plans for the dance team to do any calendars.

[Jilly_in_VA]

1. Isn't that great

The WTFs, now with co-ed slave labor.

[Rustyeye77]

2. Female cheerleaders is so sexist .

Who wants to see that?

[soothsayer]

3. They barely pay them, or the band

Blows

[spooky3]

4. It's one step in the right direction. Nt

[Ruby Zee]

5. Finally...

It's time for sports teams to ditch the female cheerleaders in skimpy costumes. I read major league teams pay them minimum wage or similar. It's my second least favorite things about football, with the first being brain injuries.

[GopherGal]

6. "Keeps our fanbase excited" ... right.

Given the history of really beyond skeevy treatment of the cheerleaders by team execs, this sounds like a pretty typical "Boss harasses women, the women get fired" situation.

[link:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/sports/redskins-cheerleaders-nfl.html|]

When the Washington Redskins took their cheerleading squad to Costa Rica in 2013 for a calendar photo shoot, the first cause for concern among the cheerleaders came when Redskins officials collected their passports upon arrival at the resort, depriving them of their official identification.

For the photo shoot, at the adults-only Occidental Grand Papagayo resort on Culebra Bay, some of the cheerleaders said they were required to be topless, though the photographs used for the calendar would not show nudity. Others wore nothing but body paint. Given the resort’s secluded setting, such revealing poses would not have been a concern for the women — except that the Redskins had invited spectators.

A contingent of sponsors and FedExField suite holders — all men — were granted up-close access to the photo shoots.

One evening, at the end of a 14-hour day that included posing and dance practices, the squad’s director told nine of the 36 cheerleaders that their work was not done. They had a special assignment for the night. Some of the male sponsors had picked them to be personal escorts at a nightclub.

[link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/08/26/redskins-cheerleaders-video-daniel-snyder-washington/?arc404=true|]

In “Beauties on the Beach,” the official video chronicling the making of the Washington NFL team’s 2008 cheerleader swimsuit calendar, the women frolic in the sand, rave about their custom bikinis and praise a photographer for putting them at ease in settings where sometimes only a strategically placed prop or tightly framed shot shielded otherwise bare breasts.

What the cheerleaders didn’t know was that another video, intended strictly for private use, would be produced using footage from that same shoot. Set to classic rock, the 10-minute unofficial video featured moments when nipples were inadvertently exposed as the women shifted positions or adjusted props.

The lewd outtakes were what Larry Michael, then the team’s lead broadcaster and a senior vice president, referred to as “the good bits” or “the good parts,” according to Brad Baker, a former member of Michael’s staff. Baker said in an interview that he was present when Michael told staffers to make the video for team owner Daniel Snyder.

[Sgent]

7. I'm all for coed squads

in fact I'm not sure that cheerleader is necessarily female anyway. My college had male cheerleaders in the 90's, and GWB was a college cheerleader in the 70's.

[MagickMuffin]

8. Yep