If you have watched an Indianapolis Colts game at any point this season, your eyes have likely drifted away from the 22 players on the field and toward a woman standing near the bench. She’s holding a laminated sheet, wearing a heavy-duty headset, and furiously scribbling into a yellow legal pad like an Ivy League student taking a surprise midterm.That is Carlie Irsay-Gordon , the CEO and principal owner of the Indianapolis Colts. She has had this routine since her father Jim Irsay-Gordon was alive as it was a way to help her better understand the team and game of what she would one day run.
While Indy sits at a perfectly mediocre 2-2 following their European field trip against the Commanders, Irsay-Gordon’s sideline routine has ignited a fiery, highly hilarious online civil war. The internet, talk radio, and NFL traditionalists are collectively losing their minds over the sight of an owner acting like an assistant offensive coordinator. Why is a billionaire taking notes on a piece of paper causing such a massive existential crisis across the league? Let’s break down why this has everyone so thoroughly bothered.
The “Jerry Jones Factor” and the Specter of Micromanagement of the Colts
In the NFL, there is a golden rule: Owners stay in the luxury suite, drink expensive scotch, and leave the play-calling to the people making $8 million a year.When an owner steps onto the grass wearing a headset, the immediate assumption isn’t “Oh, look at her dedication!” It’s “Oh no, she’s about to fire the play-caller at halftime”. For decades, the gold standard of overbearing ownership was Jerry Jones marching down to the Dallas sidelines to loom over his coaching staff.
So when sports media giant Bill Simmons recently went on a multi-minute rant calling Colts owner Irsay-Gordon’s behavior “f—ing nuts” and “bonkers,” he was echoing a sentiment held by football old-heads everywhere. The fear is that a hands-on owner inevitably becomes a micromanaging owner but how can that be if this has been her routine for years. Even if Colts head coach Shane Steichen publicly insists he welcomes her presence, nobody actually believes a head coach enjoys having his boss stand three feet behind him while he tries to decide whether to run a third-and-1 dive.
“Why Can’t She Just Use an iPad in an Air-Conditioned Suite?”
The practical critique of Colts Owner Irsay-Gordon’s setup is what really sends critics over the edge. The All-22 film—the high-angle, pristine footage that coaches actually use to evaluate games—is available in real time on tablets inside climate-controlled luxury boxes. Up in the press box, you can see the entire field, map out route concepts, and evaluate line play with zero distractions.
Down on the field? You are at turf level. You are dodging 300-pound linemen who got thrown out of bounds, ducking past camera operators, and trying to read a play-call sheet in the pouring rain. To the average fan, watching her stand on the field squinting at a notepad looks less like high-level football strategy and more like an elaborate piece of performance art. Critics argue that if she truly wants to study the mechanics of Shane Steichen’s offense, doing it from the damp grass of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is literally the worst seat in the house.
The Double Standard and the Gender Dynamic
You cannot talk about this debate without addressing the massive elephant in the room.Plenty of defenders have rightfully pointed out a stark double standard: If a 35-year-old male tech billionaire inherited an NFL team, put on a headset, and spent all day scribbling in a notebook, sports television would likely frame him as an analytical visionary “disrupting the game”.
Because Irsay-Gordon is a woman navigating a hyper-masculine, good-old-boys coaching fraternity, her desire to learn the granular details of her own multi-billion-dollar enterprise gets weaponized against her. She has openly stated that she wears the headset to hear play-calls so she can evaluate whether her coaches actually know what they’re doing—a level of due diligence most owners are far too lazy to perform. Yet, instead of being praised for wanting to avoid making “expensive mistakes,” she gets mocked as a control freak.
The Bottom Line
Is Colts Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon’s sideline routine a bit weird? Absolutely. Is it performative? Maybe a little bit. But here is the ultimate truth: She has been on that sideline since her father Jim Irsay was alive to learn the game her father loved and the whole Irsay family. The Indianapolis Colts have been plagued by decades of draft busts, failed quarterback band-aids, and organizational complacency.
If the owner of the team wants to stand in the cold, listen to the play calls, and take meticulous notes to hold her front office accountable, Colts fans shouldn’t care if it makes Bill Simmons uncomfortable. As long as she isn’t actively overruling Steichen on 4th-and-goal, let the woman hold her clipboard in peace.
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