What Is a Bid in Cheerleading?

Quick answer: a bid is an earned invitation or qualifying spot awarded to a top-placing team at a competition, giving them entry into a larger, often more prestigious, end-of-season championship event.

What the Term Means

Rather than every team being automatically eligible for the biggest end-of-season events, many competition providers award a limited number of bids at qualifying competitions throughout the season. Winning a bid effectively means "earning your spot" at a bigger event.

How It Affects a Team's Season

Bids are often a major goal for a team's season, shaping which competitions they attend and how the routine is developed and refined over time, aiming to peak in time for bid-awarding events.

How Bids Are Awarded

Bids are typically awarded based on placement within a level and division at a specific competition - for example, the top-scoring team in a division at a given event might receive a bid. Exact criteria vary between competition providers.

Scoring-System Differences

Which competitions offer bids, how many are awarded, and to which championship events, varies significantly between competition providers and governing bodies, and changes between seasons.

Related Terms

See Qualifier for the related concept of a qualifying competition, and What Is All Star Cheer? for context on the wider competitive season.