Neither cheerleading or band qualify as a competitive sport. Actually cheerleading is a thing of the past. No longer do cheerleaders lead yells in support of the team, do they even know who is playing? Instead they are a gymnastics group performing as a sideshow to the game. A waste of money by the school. Reduce costs by eliminating band and cheerleaders.

Wait a minute - "a gymnastic group performing as a side show" - that implies the cheerleaders are a gymnastic team. But gymnastics is a sport that counts. Let me make some connections here. I can't. If gymnastics counts as a sport for Title IX - and cheerleaders are a gymanstic team performing - then cheerleaders should be viewed as atheltics.
But that would mean the logic was missing from the stated argument.
Oh, wait! Logic and law do not always mix.
But think of the discussions that insue.

I think cheerleading should almost certainly count at most schools, and band should probably count at a lot of places, too (only where it's a real marching band, not some other kind of band). If there are competitions and that much athleticism involved then why not? The competitions happen separately from football/basketball, so you can't make the argument that the band and cheerlearders are just around to support the other sports.

The author's point that cheerleaders and bands are there to entertain is the most valid - no one attends a sporting event for the primary purpose of seeing the band or the cheerleaders, no matter how good they are.
Not varsity sports - excellent entertainers in some colleges, but not athletes.

One quantifiable measure about whether cheerleading and band are sports may be to consider how many organized intercollegiate competitions they are involved in each year. If the answer is one or two, then they clearly fit the performance art category. If they compete something like six times or more a year against other collegiate cheer squads or band programs, then it's easy to make a case for them being an athletic program. In between 2 and 6 would be up for debate.

Clearly, unless you are competing, what you are doing is not a sport. Exercise perhaps, sport no. If for some reason you want a physical activity like cheerleading or marching band to be considered a sport, then you need to add in an element of competition. As for #4, many a very boring football game has been made palatable only because of the quality of the cheerleading squad or the marching band, providing the only reason for wanting to attend.

If #4 thinks that crowds never come primarily to watch the bands and the dancers then he or she is apparently not familiar with the SWAC.

I think people are confused by the distinction between "athlete" and "athletic." People who play in the band are neither and cheer groups are certainly athletic but by no definition athletes. If this is a Title IX discussion, I don't think adding cheer is going to do a lot to help women in athletics. Cheer squads are made up of male and female participants so no great impact on gender numbers is going to come from redefining cheer as sport. If you want to focus on a real Title IX issue, look at the severe lack of minority women in athletics. Outside of track and basketball, all women sports are over 90% white females. And from my close observation of (female) cheerleaders at FB games, they generally look pretty white as well.

Cheerleading has become a competitive activity. My daughter's team in high school traveled to a number of interschool and national competitions. So competition per se can't be used to rule out its status as a sport.

Yes, cheerleading now employs many gymnastics maneuvers, but ask my wife and stepdaughter, who coach gymnastics, what they think of cheerleading as a sport. It is not held in high regard among gymnasts.

Sometimes what determines when an athletic activity becomes a sport is when it becomes recognized as an official Olympic sport, as synchronized swimming (water ballet) did in 1984. This sport is a combination of swimming, gymnastics, and dance. It is not, as an Olympic sport, open to men.

Cheerleading is certainly a combination of at least dance and gymnastics (as rhythmic gymnastics, an Olympic sport since 1984, is). Maybe it will eventually gain Olympic sanction as well--and then who would question its status as a sport?

--- Sandy Thatcher

When cheerleading is recognized as a sport, will competiting cheerleading teams have cheerleaders? And when cheerleading-cheerleading is recognized as a sport, will competing cheerleading-cheerleading teams have cheerleaders? And when...?

I long for the days when cheerleaders actually led cheers to get the crowd involved in support of the basketball or football team. Hopefully I would not pay $30,000 for my daughter to attend college, then see her in sexually aluring tights writhing to the music while waiving pom-poms. She does not need college to learn how to be a slut. This is family entertainment?

Yikes folks - cheerleading and marching band were formed for the purpose of entertainment, not performance competition. Football and basketball teams must compete in order to perform their sport - the point is competition first, entertainment second.

Bands and cheerleaders compete at times to answer unsubstantiated claims about being the best. That doesn't make them sports. Has someone who scores a 2400 on the SAT competed in a sport even though they are the best?

Its great entertainment, good exercise (on the cheerleader side) and not a sport - I can't believe this is even a discussion. And yes I was in the band and know what kind of fun performances can be seen by marching bands at football games - still doesn't make it a sport, nor can you buy a ticket to see halftime shows, just the football game.
BTW - the existence of the football and basketball teams is what allows for funding the band and cheerleaders at many schools.

As a former nationally competitive all-star cheerleader (all star teams do not "cheer on" any teams -- they only compete) and Division I cheerleader, I would argue that the highest level of cheerleading has evolved to a sport (nor is it comprised of "sluts" as another commenter suggested). At the all-star level, we were judge similarly to gymnasts--with partial point deductions for incorrectly performed gymnastics, stunts, etc. Like gymnastics, there are difficulty levels for each movement, as well as standards where deductions can be taken objectively. I think the real issue is that decision-makers are relying on personal memories of cheerleading in high schools decades ago rather than looking at it in its current form. However, I am aware that many universities have cheerleading teams that are more "sprit leaders" than competitive athletes. Thus, I would argue that in schools where athletes (cheerleaders) are representing their schools on a competitive level should categorize the program as a sport, and "spirit leaders" on the sideline should be treated as a performance art.

Wow, sports bring in the financial supports for most band and cheerleading programs? Perhaps it never occurred to anyone why high school band and athletic programs have support organizations called Booster programs with the sole responsiblity to financially support their organization. Having been a part of high school and college marching band, and later having career as a professional music educator, my parents (along with several other parents and supporters) came to the football games just to see the band. Football and basketball have gotten to the point where they feel as though they are the only viable public relations for institutions. The truth of the matter is they are not. If what marching bands and cheerleaders do are athletic, enhance a healthier lifestyle, and require skill, why would they not be considered a sport? My own father changed his opinion of marching band after one year of watching high school band camp -- he was the typical football supporter saying band was "easy" and didn't require work.

As a side note -- marching bands were not created for entertainment! They actually come from the early military bands that were used to move troops from one place to another in a quicker, more organized manner.