After Making a ‘Rare’ Exception to Their Rules, 1 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Was Forced to Sit Out a Christmas Game

When the Dallas Cowboys play at home on Christmas Day, the holiday looks very different for everyone in the organization — including the team’s famous cheerleaders.

This year, the Cowboys face the Washington Commanders in Maryland, which means the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have Dec. 25 off. But when a home game lands on Christmas or Christmas Eve, all 36 dancers are generally expected to perform — unless the squad has more than enough members to cover the field.

That’s exactly what happened during Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Marissa Phillips’ rookie season. In 2022, the team had 37 dancers — one more than the typical roster — a rare situation that created an unusual solution.

“It’s happened before, but it’s pretty rare that they take extra,” Phillips said three years later. Rather than rework routines to accommodate an additional dancer, the team rotated one cheerleader out each game. Over the season, every member sat out for one game — and Phillips’ off game happened to fall on Christmas Eve.

“So I didn’t dance that game, but the cool thing about sitting out was you got to sit in the press box, and you got to eat all the food you wanted,” Phillips recalled. “I was watching the game, I was watching the girls dance, and I had a whole plate of Christmas Eve food.”

Although she wasn’t on the field, Phillips still had to report with the squad and follow the usual game-day schedule. Typically, that includes boarding a bus back to The Star — the Cowboys’ headquarters in Frisco, Texas — but she said the team made a special exception because of the holiday.

“They allowed people to get straight in the car with their families,” she explained. “Some girls would get on Christmas Eve flights to go straight home, which was really sweet.”

Phillips said she and her family left the stadium and drove directly to their home in Austin after the game ended.

“We were driving back and it was midnight,” she remembered with a laugh. “We were like, ‘At least we’re going to make it before Santa does.’”