The Pro Cheer League, presented by Varsity Spirit, is set to be the world’s first professional cheerleading platform. Athletes 18 and older now have the opportunity to continue their cheer careers past high school or college.
The league will launch in 2026 with teams in four cities: Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, and San Diego. The team names are the Atlanta air, Dallas Drive, Golden State Grit and Miami Metal. Each team will have 30 athletes, 120 total across the league, and compete in five events across the nation.
The first competition is planned to be the weekend of January 16 in Indianapolis. Afterwards, four additional performances are planned in Houston, Atlanta, Anaheim, with the championship taking place in Nashville.
“As a coach and an alumni cheerleader, I love to see cheer taking a bigger step and giving a new generation of cheerleaders an opportunity and a goal that was never possible for me,” said Renee Rumberg, former Linganore High School (LHS) cheerleader and assistant coach of the LHS JV cheer team.
On Varsity Spirit’s website, the league claims to uphold the values of service, passion, integrity, respect, innovation, transparency.
Applications to tryout were open through July 24. The tryout process started in early September where athletes submitted standardized skills and unique interview elements specific to each team on video submission. Through September 5 through 7 The athletes that were invited to the in-person process of tryouts.
The weekend schedule included Friday, September 5, getting to know athletes and the first round of performances. Saturday, 6, was the semi-final evaluations specific skill show off. Sunday, September 7, was the final evaluation. Varsity Spirit updated on all social media platforms of Varsity Spirit of the tryout process and all of the talent that came in.
They have released the roster for the teams and they split the roster between boys and girls. Gaby Butler a famous all star cheerleader is on Miami Metal
The pre-season will begin in November, where the teams will start putting together a routine for the competitions. Each team will have merchandise for sale on the website Pro League Cheer.
This historic launch marks a transformative moment for cheerleading, delivering a career level platform for athletes to continue competing beyond high school and college. It also helps the sport step out of its typical stereotype: only cheering for other teams.
Tickets for their upcoming performances are not available to purchase yet.
“I think this might make people take it more seriously,” said LHS cheerleader Alana Allen. “I’m so excited that cheer is becoming a professional sport especially because some people underestimate the hard work that goes into cheer.”
The athletes will be paid for their performances, however there are questions of if the Pro Cheer League can pay their athletes full time. According to Varsity spirits websit.The cheer league’s long term vision is to grow this sport into a more sustainable professional model in the future.
“I’m really excited to watch. When I saw the announcement I was shocked, it’s so cool to see my favorite sport be taken to the next level,” said Lily Wright, a member of LHS varsity cheer team.
