WFT will not have cheerleaders in 2021 but is adding coed dance squad
As the Washington Football Team’s organizational rebrand continues, the NFL franchise will not field cheerleaders in 2021.
Instead, after more than 50 seasons with a consistent cheerleading presence, a coed dance squad will take the field for the WFT’s gameday entertainment. Petra Pope, the club’s newly hired senior adviser, told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday that the new dance squad looks to become more modern and diverse, with a “skillset of being super athletic, which is what we’re really honing in on.”
“We want to be more inclusive, so we are going to invite a coed entity (to audition),” Pope said. “We’re able to do more things with the strength of a male, and lifts, so that’s changed a great deal. The inclusivity, strength and interest of choreography has changed.”
Pope brings more than three decades’ experience in NBA entertainment to her new role overseeing creative direction and gameday entertainment. She redesigned the Nets’ gameday experience as the team moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn, in addition to spending 14 years with the Knicks. In Los Angeles, Pope managed the Lakers’ “Laker Girls.”
Pope said all of Washington’s cheerleader contracts have expired, but those women are eligible to audition for the 2021 dance squad.
Washington’s rebrand throughout the last year has been multifaceted, including July’s announcement that the team would drop its former name and logo.
The organization has also faced claims of sexual harassment, including 40 women described in two Washington Post stories last year. Among them were members of the 2008 and 2010 cheerleading squads, after allegations emerged claiming that club employees created videos of outtakes from calendar shoots when the women weren’t fully dressed.
The franchise has denied the existence of videos, which the Post said it had reviewed. Cindy Minniti, an attorney representing the team and owner Daniel Snyder, told USA TODAY Sports the matter “has been resolved.”
The team reached a settlement with former cheerleaders in 2020, a person with knowledge of the settlement confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly disclose confidential terms of the settlement.
The person also said the upcoming gameday rebrand was unrelated to the settlement.
Pope said Tuesday that the dance squad is not expected to participate in any future calendar photo shoots.
“At this point, as we re-imagine what this looks like, that’s not in the plans,” she said. “We’re going to move forward to a more modern entity, and that more than likely will not be a part of it.
“Right now we’re thinking modern, modern franchise. A calendar is not a part of that process.”
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Jori Epstein on Twitter @JoriEpstein.
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