‘The Sea Gals’ are now ‘The Seahawks Dancers’

[mrt144]

The cheerleaders are payed commensurate with the revenue they generate.

If they ceased to exist tomorrow, the number of ticket sales wouldn't change one iota. What do they bring in in merchandise sales?

Sure, there is always "that guy." One or two folks might not buy a ticket, but there are plenty of folks in line to buy that ticket.

Even the hot dog vendor is worth more than the cheerleaders. If all hot dog vendors ceased to exist, the team would lose revenue on hot dog sales.

I like ogling the cheerleaders just as much as the next CIS-HET male, but I wouldn't pay more for a ticket just to see them. Plenty of clubs to go to, after the game, for that.

And yet they persist because there is a vocal element of fans who insist it isn't a football game without choreography and music. It fits a schema of expectations and there is a real sense of loss and lacking among fans whose schema has cheerleading as a foundational part of the experience.

FWIW, if you have watched competitive cheerleading it is a far far cry from what NFL cheerleading is and is all the more impressive for it. It takes both young men and women to make it function and the roles they play create something bigger and most impressive.

Personally, I use 'gal' when referring to men and women casually. "A couple of gals at my office..." "A few dudes at my office...". That's surfer talk and I know it.

 

[mrt144]

I used to have a friend and casual girlfriend that was a Seahawk Dancer. I like the name better than Sea Gal anyway.

They underpay these girls significantly. Sure they 'get' to travel, but they also have to be available for these trips (like to Iraq as a for instance).

These girls bust their tails. If you knew the amount of hours in practice time, and then contrasted to the hours they get paid for? (Not sure about now but they only got paid for game time then, not practice).

I know a lot of the girls love a lot about what they do, but the way they are treated is ridiculous. Because I know all the work they put in, I try to be a supporter. But I also think it is BS, especially when they use them for what is essentially ticket sales but never compensate them nearly enough for that.

This is probably something that will eventually go away as was pointed out in this thread. Not sure how much cost they are cutting when they do it, since they barely spend anything on it and get all this near free labor but it is probably for the best.

I think the split comes down to this.

Most NFL fans who think everything is copacetic with cheerleaders see it as a glorified hobby, where the benefits are wholly personal. The compensation is in getting to do the thing at all and possibly leverage it into something bigger. The fleeting success stories of leverage aren't more numerous, just more loud.

For NFL fans who think something is rotten, it mostly revolves around a day's wage for a day's work. The personal reasons for doing it are mostly immaterial because a service was performed that the company determined had some value. When getting into the guts, NFL teams seem to want to reap all potential upside of having cheerleaders, even marginally, without fronting the time or material costs to support it. Those are almost wholly owned by the participants themselves with all downside risks wholly on the participants themselves.

Basically it comes down to the NFL wanting to have their cake and eat it too, which is their prerogative just as it is ours not to shut up about it. You can see analogs towards teachers here where it's known they provide value in some regard but...they provide almost all time and many materials to give that value back to the system. Teachers buying class supplies out of pocket is not abnormal in the least.

 

[Largent80]

Hahahaha. It's a bunch of pretty good looking women (or was) dancing....A lot of B.S. going on here for a topic like this, but I'm pretty sure there are at least a couple of posters here that welcome the men into the fold.

 

[knownone]

This just in also, they found it un PC to call the owners of teams the Owners now and are looking for a name that suits their position due to the number of Black players representing the rosters.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...ams-reportedly-move-away-from-the-term-owner/

A movement started by Draymond Green... this will be interesting.

 

[quadsas]

This just in also, they found it un PC to call the owners of teams the Owners now and are looking for a name that suits their position due to the number of Black players representing the rosters.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...ams-reportedly-move-away-from-the-term-owner/

A movement started by Draymond Green... this will be interesting.

It's a joke it's even a 'conversation'. What a world we live in that anyone would consider word owner to have a negative connotation. Draymond Green = absolute idiot

Mod Edit - f bombs aren't allowed in the main forum.

 

[mrt144]

This just in also, they found it un PC to call the owners of teams the Owners now and are looking for a name that suits their position due to the number of Black players representing the rosters.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...ams-reportedly-move-away-from-the-term-owner/

A movement started by Draymond Green... this will be interesting.

It's a joke it's even a 'conversation'. What a world we live in that anyone would consider word owner to have a negative connotation. Draymond Green = absolute idiot.

And yet it seems some are apt to consider players indentured servants who should be thankful for the gilded cage as if they are owned birds. Funny, that notion. Where would someone ever get a notion like that? Maybe the semantics of the relationship inform some subconsciously to take the approach they do.




******Mod edited the quote to remove f bombs from the quoted material****

 

[Sgt. Largent]

And yet they persist because there is a vocal element of fans who insist it isn't a football game without choreography and music. It fits a schema of expectations and there is a real sense of loss and lacking among fans whose schema has cheerleading as a foundational part of the experience..

Honestly I think it'd be a very small minority of season ticket holders and fans who would care if the cheerleaders went away.

It'd be a news story, a vocal minority would be all up in arms, and then that'd be that.

The Cheerleaders do it because it's great exposure for them, as well as fun to be a part of the Hawks, going out into the community and getting to interact with kids, fans, charities and the team.

THIS is why the NFL still wants cheerleaders, sorry "dancers" around. It's good for their image to have wholesome young(ish) women involved and promoting their product.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

I go to see the Hawks play football.

 

[bigskydoc]

The other reason they don't get paid more, there's no shortage of people waiting in the wings to do it at the current level of pay.

There were near 200 women who auditioned for the 28 slots on the squad last year.

Supply and demand.

 

[ZorntoLargent]

The use of "gal" on the cheerleader name has always been lame due to the lame and awkward aspects of it. It's essentially a 50's or 60's slang term that went out, and even when this team was founded it was late in the game. And that was 40 years ago.

Cheerleading in general is an antiquated thing, so not sure why changing the name makes it less antiquated.

If we're REALLY striving for being respectful and conscious of female equality, then get rid of cheerleaders all together. Because the entire thing is absurd and antiquated............"let's wear barely any clothes with our legs and boobs hanging out, get all dolled up and do provocative dances in front of kids and drunk dudes."

So yeah, no more Seagals, THAT'S the problem. LOL.

I agree.
Cheerleaders are a dumb idea to begin with.
What cheer are they leading? THEY AREN'T.
It's not a HS basketball gym with 200 people........
They are indeed just scantily clad, decently shaped, average looking women, with TONS of makeup on, and fake taa taas or push up bras.
Never even give them a second thought or watch any of it.

 

[mrt144]

The other reason they don't get paid more, there's no shortage of people waiting in the wings to do it at the current level of pay.

There were near 200 women who auditioned for the 28 slots on the squad last year.

Supply and demand.

Which is just another iteration of 'this is a serious hobby for the participants and nothing more so why should I care about how the sausage is made?' Taking care of cheerleaders like they're part of the Hawks family, and not just replaceable eye candy seems to tick of a moral conviction nobody would seemingly find fault with, correct? Are the Hawks near the brink of bankruptcy or losing serious profits by taking care of the cheerleaders more robustly? No, but the status quo is practically free with any marginal upside being captured by the Hawks and so it persists and very few people think their attitude towards the situation might reflect elsewhere across society.

 

[knownone]

The use of "gal" on the cheerleader name has always been lame due to the lame and awkward aspects of it. It's essentially a 50's or 60's slang term that went out, and even when this team was founded it was late in the game. And that was 40 years ago.

Cheerleading in general is an antiquated thing, so not sure why changing the name makes it less antiquated.

If we're REALLY striving for being respectful and conscious of female equality, then get rid of cheerleaders all together. Because the entire thing is absurd and antiquated............"let's wear barely any clothes with our legs and boobs hanging out, get all dolled up and do provocative dances in front of kids and drunk dudes."

So yeah, no more Seagals, THAT'S the problem. LOL.

This is sort of paradoxical when you think about it. If we are striving for female equality, shouldn't they be allowed to do what ever they want and work where ever they want?

 

[mrt144]

The use of "gal" on the cheerleader name has always been lame due to the lame and awkward aspects of it. It's essentially a 50's or 60's slang term that went out, and even when this team was founded it was late in the game. And that was 40 years ago.

Cheerleading in general is an antiquated thing, so not sure why changing the name makes it less antiquated.

If we're REALLY striving for being respectful and conscious of female equality, then get rid of cheerleaders all together. Because the entire thing is absurd and antiquated............"let's wear barely any clothes with our legs and boobs hanging out, get all dolled up and do provocative dances in front of kids and drunk dudes."

So yeah, no more Seagals, THAT'S the problem. LOL.

This is sort of paradoxical when you think about it. If we are striving for female equality, shouldn't they be allowed to do what ever they want and work where ever they want?

Welcome to the wonderful world of difficult dualities!

 

[RastaHawk12!]

I don't know if anybody realizes this, but the World is all about ME! And I do NOT like male dancers. Expect game attendance to go down.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........

What if the males are actually transgendered women identifying as men but still have a hot bod?

 

[knownone]

The use of "gal" on the cheerleader name has always been lame due to the lame and awkward aspects of it. It's essentially a 50's or 60's slang term that went out, and even when this team was founded it was late in the game. And that was 40 years ago.

Cheerleading in general is an antiquated thing, so not sure why changing the name makes it less antiquated.

If we're REALLY striving for being respectful and conscious of female equality, then get rid of cheerleaders all together. Because the entire thing is absurd and antiquated............"let's wear barely any clothes with our legs and boobs hanging out, get all dolled up and do provocative dances in front of kids and drunk dudes."

So yeah, no more Seagals, THAT'S the problem. LOL.

This is sort of paradoxical when you think about it. If we are striving for female equality, shouldn't they be allowed to do what ever they want and work where ever they want?

Welcome to the wonderful world of difficult dualities!

I think you're confusing duality with dichotomy.

 

[mrt144]

Cheerleading in general is an antiquated thing, so not sure why changing the name makes it less antiquated.

If we're REALLY striving for being respectful and conscious of female equality, then get rid of cheerleaders all together. Because the entire thing is absurd and antiquated............"let's wear barely any clothes with our legs and boobs hanging out, get all dolled up and do provocative dances in front of kids and drunk dudes."

So yeah, no more Seagals, THAT'S the problem. LOL.

This is sort of paradoxical when you think about it. If we are striving for female equality, shouldn't they be allowed to do what ever they want and work where ever they want?

Welcome to the wonderful world of difficult dualities!

I think you're confusing duality with dichotomy.

I kinda am arent I. I was thinking of the dualism inherent to modern feminist theory with the contrast between individual choice liberty (i want to wear makeup cause I like it and that liberty of choice puts me closer to being equal to men, for example) and structural change to women's perception in society (wearing makeup is appeasement to men's desires and fundamentally undermines being seen as societal equals. It will always place us as objects of desire and not fully fleshed out people)

Ill save the exploration of feminist theory for the right venue but the space between those two propositions is where most women actually live.

 

[chris98251]

Well why don't we have any bodacious Babes on the squad, I mean if they are going PC they need to give a shot to all shapes and sizes right? I mean a dude with a plumbers crack showing and holding up his Uni would turn a lot of people on, especially if it was hairy and all.

 

[Heyseed]

Sea Men

 

[THE TABS]

I better not see any dudes in the calendar

 

[FlyingGreg]

Although this is odd, I also realize I have never given one crap about the Sea Gals performance during games and find them to be a tedious distraction. Cheerleaders should stay in college and high school...completely unnecessary at a pro sporting event. It's not like I suddenly feel inspired to scream and cheer when they goad me on...I am doing it anyways.

Having dudes in the ranks means I will ignore them even more. Let's be honest, over the years the Sea Gals have averaged about 10-15% good looking ladies and the rest have left a lot to be desired, anyways.

GET OFF MY LAWN