'Less revealing': The plan for 'more wholesome' NBA cheerleaders
An American basketball franchise has taken interesting steps to address reports its organisation is “rife with misogyny and predatory sexual behaviour.”
The Dallas Mavericks have decided that their NBA cheerleaders will break from the traditional status quo with new-look uniforms this autumn.
The Mavericks’ dance team has ordered “less revealing uniforms” for the upcoming season and will perform “more wholesome routines,” according to a report from the Dallas Morning News.
The move is largely in a response to multiple scandals that have rocked the Mavericks front office this year.
“We want the focus to be on the dancers as artists and to highlight their skills, not be eye candy or sexualised,” Mavericks CEO Cynthia Marshall told the Dallas Morning News.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and the organisation came under fire after a Sports Illustrated report in February detailed a “corporate culture rife with misogyny and predatory sexual behaviour,” among other things, within the front office.
A report also surfaced in May about a former senior account executive who would repeatedly look at pornographic images while touching himself in the office, generating the nickname “Pants DJ.”
Marshall, who was hired in February, has been tasked in part with cleaning up the organisation, and said that the shift with the dance team is part of their “100-day plan aimed at cleaning up problems” within the Dallas front office.
“We love our dancers, but we are re-evaluating every aspect of this organisation to make sure they are living up to the values we are instilling in the entire Mavericks operation,” Marshall said.
“The dancers are doing nothing wrong. What they wear and how they dance is a part of the culture and the atmosphere that has been around for the past two decades.
“We will be a part of the evolution that moves these dancers forward as athletes and entertainers.”
The change with the dance team stopped short of eliminating it all together, like the San Antonio Spurs did earlier this year.
The Spurs replaced the dance team with a 35-member “family-friendly coed hype team.”
While the move to eliminate the team completely may be a bit extreme, the idea behind both switches is the same: keeping fans entertained without sending the wrong message or making anyone uncomfortable.
“Everyone should feel comfortable — both the performers and everyone in the arena,” Marshall said.
“If someone brings a 10-year-old to the game, I don’t want them having to cover the kid’s eyes during performances.”
With Yahoo US