If it’s even possible, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders may be more popular than they have ever been.
Kelli Finglass, DCC director, was the guest of David Bazzel and the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Tuesday, Oct. 21, and her appearance was a fast sellout. Bazzel — the former Razorback, media personality, club founder and emcee — bragged that Finglass sold more tickets than NFL hall-of-famers Lawrence Taylor and Jimmy Johnson, each of whom spoke at the club earlier this season.
Finglass was a member of DCC from 1984 to 1989 — the only member to be invited back without an audition — and was named director in 1991, the same year Johnson was hired to coach the Cowboys by Arkansan and then-new owner Jerry Jones.
In a video message for Finglass, Johnson praised her work as DCC director and said, “Dallas is known as America’s Team as much for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders as it is for the football team.”
Of meeting Jones for the first time, Finglass said, “I loved him. He’s contagious. He lit the room up. You knew exciting things were gonna happen.”
(Photo by Ryan Parker)
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are operating at the height of their popularity after the success of the Netflix docuseries, America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. The series’ second season was dropped this past summer after its initial release in 2024, and it not only garnered a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes but is among the top 10 Netflix shows in 27 countries — and is No. 1 in many of those countries.
The show’s success followed on the heels of the DCC’s 15-year run on CMT. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team was a popular reality show that catapulted Finglass into the spotlight, and for which she served as executive producer.
Finglass told the club that she had no such input on the Netflix series.
“It was definitely different with CMT,” she said. “With CMT, I was much more in the saddle with the director. With Netflix, I had zero editing. I saw a lot of things and learned a lot of things with this show.”
Kelli Finglass and AY Media Group president and publisher Heather Baker at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Oct. 21. (Photo by Ryan Parker)
Finglass not only broadened the organization’s reach through its TV exposure, but she was also responsible for the limited edition Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Barbie and for the DCC performers receiving a 400 percent pay raise. Only 40,000 of the limited-edition DCC Barbie dolls were made by Mattel, and Finglass said they sold out in three days. She added that she spent nine years writing letters to Mattel to try to convince them to make a DCC Barbie.
To this day, she keeps a limited supply in her office so she can present one each year to the cheerleader with the best ‘artistic expression.'”
She told Bazzel the Barbie serves as the DCC’s “Heisman.”
Finglass’ Arkansas connections spread beyond Jones. Her mom was from the Natural State, and her maternal grandmother, “Grandma Polly,” lived in Little Rock. Growing up, Finglass would visit Little Rock often with her family and still visits Polly’s gravesite in Cabot. Finglass shared how her grandmother served as an inspiration to her. She said Polly taught her to practice and prepare for what-ifs, to be passionate about excellence, to marry a man who will respect you…and to “wear a good support bra from Sears to support your bosom.”
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