At a university full of title-winning athletic teams, one of the lesser-known sports gains traction every year around its national championship competition: the LSU Tiger Girls, but there are many common misconceptions about their band counterparts, the Golden Girls.
To the untrained eye, the two organizations appear similar in the sense that they are both dance teams, but there are key differences between the two organizations. The two largest differences are the types of dance the two teams compete in and their status as athletes.
The Tiger Girls is the LSU dance team that competes in the Universal Dance Association national collegiate competition each season. They also perform their routines at LSU sporting events like baseball, basketball and football games.
However, the LSU dance team often gets confused with the Golden Girls, which are a dance line extension of the Golden Band from Tigerland. The Golden Girls don’t compete in dance competitions, but they perform at football games as a part of the LSU Golden Band. Golden Girls also walk in the parade down Victory Hill on home game days, and even attend away games if the entire band goes.
Outside of the differences in practice, these two teams function differently, while being recognized by the public in a more similar fashion. The Tiger Girls are recruited as athletes, which means that they can benefit from NIL, whereas the Golden Girls cannot.
Since the Tiger Girls compete in a national dance competition, they are considered an extension of LSU athletics. On the other hand, the Golden Girls are considered an extension of the band, which means they are not university-recognized athletes. Because of these key differences, the members of each organization have different rules regarding NIL.
NIL is reserved for varsity athletes at universities, which does not include the Golden Band or the Golden Girls. However, the first Tiger Girl NIL deal was signed in 2024 by Darah Haidet. This is what will create the clearest difference to LSU fans, and it only proved how UDA Dance is recognized as a varsity sport at the university level.
“As a Tiger Girl, I’ve gotten just as many NIL opportunities as I could have ever imagined,” Haidet said in 2024. “We’ve gotten opportunities as a team, and I’ve also gotten deals individually that I think shocked people — even myself.”
Haidet signed her deal with Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys, which is one of the leading contributors to LSU NIL. McKernan usually donates upward of $750,000 each year among LSU athletics.
With the addition of Haidet to the “G-Team,” the Tiger Girls were officially showcased as athletes to the fans in one of the most direct ways possible. However, this leaves the Golden Girls behind in the athletic comparison.
Similarly to the Tiger Girls and other athletes, the Golden Girls attend class for a full-time course load in addition to the practices and games that go into being a part of the Golden Band. The key difference is the Golden Band, and therefore the Golden Girls, aren’t considered a varsity sport and cannot benefit from NIL as student-athletes.
So what appears as two similar organizations is actually very different at their core. To most fans, the two outlets appear similar in the way that they are dance teams, but the differences in the types of dance and financial opportunities separate them significantly.
