A group of NFL cheerleaders — including women who have cheered for the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders — has filed a lawsuit demanding higher wages and fairer labor practices from the NFL and 27 member teams.

“We’re not asking to be paid like the football players are. But if you look at the mascot, who’s paid between $25,000-$60,000 a year, it’s just not fair for what we put into it,” former Raiders cheerleader Caitlin Yates said in a statement released Tuesday.

The suit filed Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco, seeks class-action status for all NFL cheerleaders and targets most teams in the league, except for those who do not have cheerleaders like Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, and New York Giants.

The lawsuit comes just days before the biggest NFL game of the year, the Super Bowl LI in in Houston on Sunday between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons.

The NFL and member teams conspired to implement policies “in order to pay female athletes below fair market value” the complaint alleges.

The lead plaintiff is a former cheerleader for the 49ers who is choosing to remain anonymous because she fears backlash from fans and the team, her attorneys said.

The Raiders have been through this before — a 2014 suit alleged the team’s cheerleaders, the Raiderettes, made less than $5 an hour when rehearsal time and expenses were taken into account. That suit was settled for $1.25 million.

Prior to a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July 2015, professional cheerleaders in California are considered independent contractors, not employees, and thus are not entitled to many benefits guaranteed by labor laws, like the minimum wage, sick leave and rest breaks.

Last month in New York, a court gave the cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills the green light to continue with a similar class action lawsuit over wages. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals have also been sued by cheerleaders.

Representatives for the 49ers and the Raiders did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

Filipa A. Ioannou is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @obioannoukenobi