MAY 26: Ward will indeed carry on as COO, The Athletic’s James Boyd confirms (subscription required). As a result, he will continue to oversee the Colts’ non-football operations. Ward and other veteran executives will play central roles in helping Irsay-Gordon assume controlling status of the organization moving forward.
MAY 22: Following the sudden passing of owner Jim Irsay earlier this week, the Colts’ succession plan is now in the limelight. All three of Irsay’s daughters have been listed as “vice chair/owner” for more than a decade, but Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com says the late owner’s oldest daughter, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, is expected to be the “new person in charge.”
[RELATED: Colts Owner Jim Irsay Passes Away At 65]
ESPN’s Stephen Holder echoes this sentiment, noting that Irsay-Gordon has seemingly been preparing for this role for years. The 44-year-old once ran day-to-day operations while her father served his league-imposed suspension following a 2014 DUI arrest. Since then, she has reshaped “the business side of the franchise in terms of structure and personnel,” according to Holder.
Irsay-Gordon has also put in a concerted effort to understand every facet of the organization. Holder notes that she could often be seen on the sidelines wearing a headset to have “an up-close-and-personal view of coaches and players at work.” Those actions haven’t gone unnoticed.
“Carlie, specifically, will be the perfect modern-day owner,” a rival executive told Holder. “Carlie has been embedded in the business for probably over a decade at this point. She’s smart, a continuous learner, rigorously works to understand football from a scouting and coaching perspective.
“She also has the rare blend of appreciating tradition and professional expertise but not being bound by it because she is a progressive thinker. Very good people skills as well. She will be a great steward of the organization.”
Holder notes that two long-term executives are expected to help Irsay-Gordon with the transition. This exclusive grouping includes chief operating officer Pete Ward, who has spent more than four decades with the Colts, and chief legal officer Dan Emerson, who has been advising the family for nearly as long.
Holder adds that there are still a handful of unanswered questions surrounding the organizational hierarchy, specifically how much of a say the other sisters will have on major decisions. Casey Foyt has been working with the team for nearly 20 years, and she played a role in helping bring NFL games to London. Kalen Jackson joined the Colts a few years after her sisters, and she’s been responsible for leading many of her father’s mental health initiatives.
Jim Irsay saw a similar path through the ranks after his father, Bob Irsay, purchased the then-Baltimore Colts in 1972. Since Jim took over sole ownership following his father’s passing, he’s made it clear that the organization will remain in his family for years to come. Now, the time has come for his daughters to take the mantle.
lol
“She also has the rare blend of appreciating tradition”
but won’t take her husband’s last name.
Hyphenating is still taking it. Keeping your family name as part of your name makes sense if you’re going to take over the family’s multibillion dollar business.
She also probably won’t insist on running a wishbone offense. Appreciating tradition doesn’t mean being shackled to it.
She did….its hyphened…nothing wrong with that
“She also has the rare blend of appreciating tradition and professional expertise but not being bound by it because she is a progressive thinker.”
When making an argument, at least quote the entire sentence instead of trying to clip it to suit your narrative. And, as other’s have already correctly pointed out, she did take her husband’s last name with the hyphen. Doesn’t really matter if she didn’t though; you can appreciate and respect a tradition without being bound to it.
Female owner = More prime time games = More opportunity to tell us the story repeatedly.
I doubt that very much. It certainly doesn’t happen with the saints
You do realize Tennessee, New Orleans, Detroit and Seattle all are female owned, right? I can’t recall a broadcast where that point has been belabored on the air.
The change in ownership in Indianapolis will rightfully be a talking point early in this season. Washington recently changed ownership, too, and that was a big talking point early in the season on broadcasts. Like any other story, the press eventually fades.
Not to mention that Virginia mcaskey was the owner of the bears about 42 years.
NFL was a little different back then.
Goodell got a new extensions and it’s 2025. Watch a chefs game lately?
I assume you’re referring to the Taylor Swift talk, but that’s an entirely different thing. I haven’t done the research, but I can almost guarantee without looking it up that none of these women have almost a half billion combined followers on social media.
You’re free to like the Taylor talk or not, and I won’t argue it either way. Personally, doesn’t bother me at all. They’re smart for trying to capitalize on her fandom, though. That’s all that is. The Isray daughters aren’t anywhere near that level of celebrity.
The fact that she loves football and wants to know all aspects, and has been doing that…I think it’s great. She will do great as a very young owner….
A lot will depend on her relationship with her sisters. Sibling rivalries can get pretty ugly when fame and wealth are involved.
She’s been around the team her whole life which counts for something, but It’s impressive that she’s immersed herself in other roles over the years to get an understanding of the organization as a whole.
Waiting for your dad to die so you can own an NFL team is great work if you can get it.
We should take away food and healthcare from poor people to lower their taxes, too. Military veterans don’t really NEED healthcare if it means these kids having to pay any taxes on their free football team, when you think about it.
Not sure if you’re an idiot or an a$$h0!e…your choice. You clearly are jealous of those with money and have no idea who or what she’s about.
Keep doing their bidding, Footstool.
You have been conditioned your whole life to do so and you will never ever question it.
LOL. Min wage mentality. F the world instead of finding a way to work in it. None of us are going to be billionaires. But my $200k is more comfortable than your $15/hr paid protesting.
Keep guessing, Minion.
But notice, both of the bootlickers defend people inheriting money for doing nothing by telling others to work harder…because they have been conditioned their whole lives (to be bootlicking minions) and will never ever question it.
“F(ix) the world”…fixed it for you, Chump.
lol paid protesting? That old gag.
Are you flexing being lower middle class? lol
I get the part where a lack of reading comprehension and logic is a big part of how minions become (and stay, because they will never ever question it) minions, but even you can do better than that, right, Chuckles?
If not, keep simping and slurping…I guess. Do what you love.
Lol. Sorry I haven’t seen your replies, out here living my best life. Pray tell, how are you going to “fix” the world? By increasing minimum wage to $1M/hr? Minimum is a scale, not a number. Human kind is built on competition. Making everyone a millionaire pushes the upper class to billionaires or trillionaires. Go check out how hyperinflation is treating South American countries. Anyways, check back in with me once you turn 30.
So, you are a plumber or an electrician and you are killing it and out there living your “best life” (like a millennial woman or an Oprah viewer a decade ago)?
Cool, Bro…happy for you…(even if the part where you keep bragging out of nowhere after inventing biographies, jobs and salaries for other which makes your assertions seem highly suspect, we’ll go with it, costs me nothing…).
You don’t mind shouldering the tax load for people who make 100’s or 1000’s times more money than you do and pay literally nothing? What a saint. Some might say sucker, but…we’ll go with saint.
If you aren’t blue collar…one quick question, you have a job that AI can do? And WILL be doing in the next 2 years or so?
Might want to save up instead of living that best life, if so.
New ownership means it’s time for GM Chris Ballard and the coaching staff to start sprucing up the job resume.
Same for the QB room.
I mean most of the comment features correct statements, but they are mixed with enough profound stupidity that it invalidates everything. If the comment was more like
“I am not a fan of nepotism and wish that billionaires would help the less fortunate better, and they should probably pay more taxes” that I could get behind.
Wonder if her 2 sisters are going to let her or if its going to get messy?
Hopefully we can avoid the kind of mess that resulted when Pat Bowlen passed away as owner in Denver.
I predict the Colts will be sold within a couple of years. Own them and you’re billionaire on paper and get to go to Super Bowls and VIP events as an owner. Sell them and become actual and literal billionaires with bank accounts to prove it. For the third generation, it will be an easy decision.
I wouldn’t sell an NFL team before the TV deals expire in 2029. Team values are going to go up a lot. It’s not like these people are hand to mouth without selling. They could always sell off a piece.
Goodell continues to alienate more fans in the United States every time he opens his mouth and sounds off about expansion to foreign markets. He’s more likely to deflate the value of franchises with his approach than increase the value.
No he’s not. Fans may complain online, but the ratings never go down, while they open up new revenue streams. Adding an 18th game will add revenue. New TV contracts will be astronomical in this TV/streaming market.
The TV ratings are strong because Goodell only has to deal with 4 time zones in the United States. That changes completely when an expansion into foreign markets is considered. There’s a 15 hour difference between New York and Australia which will present a problem the league hasn’t had to deal with before.
What? There’ll be what, one or two games a year in Australia? Even with the added international games, there are actually more NFL games played in the US than there ever were before the 17th game was added. This is a non issue. The NFL had something over 80 of the 100 most watched programs last year. Given that advertisers are desperate for things people actually watch live and streamers are desperate for an actual edge over each other, there’s going to be a huge bidding war for NFL TV rights. I promise you time zone concerns for a small handful of games are not going to cost the NFL any meaningful money.
Your looking at things as they are now. I’m looking at what might exist a decade from now if Goodell is actually successful in having NFL team bases scattered around the globe. I think American fans get screwed over if Goodell has his way but if he can find more desperate fans to fleece in other countries he really won’t care.
They’re not going to do anything that kneecaps the NFL’s profits. They aren’t suicidal. This is a bizarre fantasy of a worry.
We could list several corporations that just assumed the Golden Goose would always be there. Then one day they realized they had lost their core customer base and the decline ensued. Blackberry is a good example. That company once had a whopping 60% share of the cell phone market. Who owns a Blackberry now? All the former Blackberry owners saw that Apple was more innovative and in tune with what consumers wanted so they dropped Blackberry like a bad habit.
That really doesn’t connect to this case. The NFL has more US games than ever before. They’re adding more. TV rights are worth more than ever. You’re really not making sense, sorry.
The NFL doesn’t know the meaning of limits so of course they are adding more games. That’s another red flag as “over saturation” eventually turns consumers away. There is no escaping the economic reality that every financial bubble will reach a bursting point. That’s been proved countless times. All indicators show that Goodell is leading the NFL to that point.
What indicators? And this isn’t like NFTs. We’re talking about something that’s been an extremely popular product for a long time, which is now more valuable because of the media environment that makes things like movies and narrative TV shows less valuable because people don’t watch them live.
There are plenty of red flags around if you take the time to stop drinking the kool-aid Goodell is trying to shove down your throat. One that is obvious to even casual observers of the NFL is that players can commit almost any criminal act and not face serious consequences. Then there is Goodell preaching how he must protect the integrity of the game by being tough on gambling while simultaneously being in bed with Draft Kings and Fan Duel. I’m just scratching the surface here but you get the general idea of how this all adds up to a house of cards just waiting to topple.
I don’t know what you think is being shoved down my throat here. You refuse to acknowledge the reality around TV rights and the NFL’s actual business. That’s fine. I’m not going to convince you to believe in common sense. And if the NFL were going to fall apart in popularity because of player wrongdoing, it probably would have happened somewhere in the Rae Carruth-Leonard Little-Ben Roethlisberger-Ray Lewis era.
Wearing a headset on the sideline because an owner wants “an up-close-and-personal view of coaches and players at work” sounds nice at first. But to me it’s a pretty clear sign this person will be a future meddler in football operations. And not in a good way.
That’s a rather bizarre take. There are many jobs where wearing a headset or ear protection is a safety requirement. Do all those employees have an intention to meddle in their company’s operations?
How many owners do this? And it’s not for hearing protection. Not even Jerry Jones does this.
Jerry and a few of the other owners are so old that headsets probably didn’t even exist when they were getting their initial football education.
As a Raider fan, sometimes keeping ownership in the family isn’t always a wise decision.
Al Davis was the person most responsible for the AFL surviving and eventually succeeding. He single handedly built the Raiders into a dominate franchise into the 70s. Unlike business owners of today he actually had some football smarts.
His legend is secure even if he fumbled the ball when handing off to his son.
Has there ever been a paternity test proving Mark Davis is Al’s child?
Al Davis: “Hey honey, someone left a basket on our doorstep with an infant inside”…lol.
Knowing Mr. Davis he went the paternity route for comfort. Or tried to burn him. Not really sure, but if Mark’s around I’m sure Al vetted him.