“They would compete at their own cheer tournaments, not perform on the sidelines of other sports’ games.”
False distinction. College cheer tournaments are made up of squads that do sideline cheers. The same people do both. If any colleges are putting together competition-only squads, I haven’t heard of it, and they aren’t making it to the national championships. (Competition-only “all-star” squads come from private gyms, not schools.) Big football schools in the SEC and big 10 dominate the cheer championships.