by Tad Wesley

Created on: April 28, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Actually, the premise is not correct. There are male cheerleaders in the NFL. I know of at least 1 of the 32 teams that employ them, the Baltimore Ravens. I'm pretty sure there is at least one or two others in the NFL as well, but I know the Ravens have had male cheerleaders for a number of reasons.

Still, they are clearly more common in college football. I think that's due to the fact that with college games, all of the cheerleaders are college students, and are going to be on campus either way. Some colleges give scholarships to their cheerleaders, but that is the greatest investment they make on them. Others don't even do that. If that is the case, there's no real reason not to have guys out there.

NFL teams have to pay their cheerleaders a pretty substantial salary, so they need to make certain they're getting a good return on their investments. That's also why you see NFL cheer squads out in the community more during the off-season and between games, they are in many ways the "face" of the team in the team's various charity and outreach programs.

College cheerleaders also tend to perform much more lifting maneuvers and complicated team "buildings" like pyramids and such, and therefore male cheerleaders would be more needed. In the NFL, most of the cheerleader squads stick to sexy dance routines in which they all remain firmly planted on the ground.

While more and more women are getting interested in football and the NFL, the target market is still heavily male. Even if that imbalance were fully eliminated, which is unlikely, it's still more in a man's nature to be interested in scantily clad females than it would be for a woman to be interested in scantily clad males. Have a look at the strip club industry if you doubt that. And when it comes down to it, that's what the cheerleaders are really selling; just in a more socially acceptable form.

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