Seriously...what's the use of cheerleaders?

Actually, I would rather have female tits and asses than Rex Grossman.

 

Good point. I watch a lot less NFL than I used to, and maybe for that reason. And Joe Buck, of course.

 

spikechiquet goes to Hooters and hands out sweatpants for the waitresses.

 

Doth protest too much.

 

That was a moment forever enshrined in infamy.

 

On the downside, they add up to 9.

 

I suppose they still add to the overall ambiance and atmosphere, but I would say that even at the high school and college level, the idea that cheerleaders actually lead cheers for the crowd is anachronistic. We've been too cynical for that for forty years. I'm sure there are pockets of the country where the student body still comes out in force on Friday nights, but in a lot of America, kids are too cool - or too involved in their own activities or sports, which is a good thing - to come out and be true to their schools on Friday nights. Let alone doing some cheesy call-and-response that was lame in 1967.

 

Attendance at high school football is down, but it's still well attended.
Whether that makes cheerleaders necessary is a different matter.

I loathe the NFL. I've been threatening to stop watching for a decade or more.

 

Not in my state. And nobody pays attention to the cheerleaders.

 

What high school activity draws more students and community members?

 

As someone who lives in a TV market that isn't home to my favorite NFL team, I watch RedZone, almost exclusively, except when my team is being shown live. The late games are almost shown in their entirety on RedZone. I'll DVR the Sunday and Monday night games if I really want to watch them and start about an hour to an hour-and-a-half after kickoff just to miss alot of the b.s.

 

This. They're basically an extension of the team's brand. In a way, and this is an awful comparison on the surface I realize, they're a lot like pastors. Their most visible work is on Sundays, but they're very busy with outreach during the week that the average fan probably doesn't notice. They're basically a marketing and branding arm of the team - that's why they have the morals clauses, because the last thing the team wants is its positive publicity arm to generate negative publicity.