It’s obvious from just looking at these women, how much work goes into that job. Even just to audition for these teams is really costly. I’m Amanda Hess and I’m a critic at large for the culture department of The New York Times. I’ve also been reporting on cheerleaders since 2011. Back in 2011, I wrote what I think is the first story about the underpayment and treatment of N.F.L. cheerleaders. But at the time I wrote that, I actually went on cable news and the person interviewing me said that he found my story interesting, but he thought I was the only person who cared about it. So a lot has changed since then. So the difference between what was happening in 2014 and what’s happening now is that initially some cheerleaders in a variety of teams started suing for minimum wage. They weren’t being paid the minimum wage when you factored in everything from the practices they were obligated to go to, the games, calendar shoots. Now the lawsuit that has been filed is a gender discrimination lawsuit. They are basically controlled by the teams in ways that male players are not. The teams were exerting this huge amount of control over their lives. The Buffalo Jills were told everything from how to fold a napkin to how to wash their genitals. Cheerleaders are, as a rule, highly discouraged from fraternizing with players. That can mean anything from, you know, talking to them at bars to dating them. Part of the problem with the rules against cheerleaders fraternizing not just with players but with other members of the teams’ organizations is that it makes it difficult for them to advocate for themselves, to get a different job with a company, you know, later on to use that position to get something that’s actually paid.