INDIANAPOLIS — Jim Irsay grew up in privilege, with his father Bob amassing a big enough fortune to acquire the Baltimore Colts in 1972, when the younger Irsay was 13.
But Irsay’s involvement with the team, which moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984, did not originate in the boardroom. He often told stories about doing menial jobs around the franchise, including picking up players’ jockstraps while cleaning the locker room. He later assisted in the ticket office, answering phones and handling assorted tasks.
Irsay’s time around the franchise, which later included working in the personnel department and serving as general manager, helped him learn the business of football and informed how he would govern himself when he became owner in Indianapolis following his father’s death in 1997.
Irsay died Wednesday at 65, bringing to the forefront what the next generation of Indianapolis Colts ownership will look like.
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Irsay’s three daughters — Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson — have benefited from the same kind of football upbringing their father once had, spending the entirety of their lives around the franchise and working in many capacities within it.
It’s part of the reason they are prepared to take on the job as co-owners of the Colts.
“I started out in the ticket office,” Irsay-Gordon said during a 2017 Colts town hall with her father. “But over the years, my dad has encouraged my sisters and I to get involved in the places we’re interested in.
“When we were growing up, it was, ‘You don’t have to do this.’ But I love it.”
The daughters were each given the title of “vice chair/owner” 14 years ago, an effort by their father to make clear that ownership of the team would stay in the family.
They each have found their footing. Irsay-Gordon, the oldest daughter, is heavily involved in the day-to-day operation of the team, working intensely in areas ranging from marketing to football. She serves on multiple ownership committees, including the committee overseeing the league’s strategic capital fund.
Foyt, who has a degree in sports management, has experience working in special events that dates back to the NFL’s first regular-season game in London in 2007.
Jackson, the youngest daughter, has become the face of the franchise’s philanthropic initiatives, including the Kicking the Stigma effort that has, to date, committed more than $31 million in grants to organizations working in mental health spaces. She also chairs the NFL’s employee benefits committee.
But it is Irsay-Gordon who has gravitated to the management side of the job and has put in the work to understand each aspect of the organization. As a result, she has become a central figure in running the franchise in recent years.
Irsay-Gordon has become a fixture on the sidelines during practices, following the script along with the coaches. She can often be found on the sidelines during games wearing a headset and holding a coach’s call sheet. The purpose, according to sources, is to help expand her knowledge of the game by getting an up-close-and-personal view of coaches and players at work.
“Carlie, specifically, will be the perfect modern-day owner,” said an executive from another team who knows the family. “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.
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“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.”
Irsay-Gordon was tapped to temporarily fill her father’s role during his league-imposed suspension in 2014 that followed his DUI arrest. The Colts said at the time she would hold final decision-making authority in his absence. Now, she takes center stage again.
“People can underestimate her if they want, but she is tough, sharp, intelligent, works extremely hard, knows football and is innovative,” said a different executive from another team who knows the family. “She will be great as long as she surrounds herself with the right people.”
During her time working in the organization, Irsay-Gordon has had a major impact on reshaping the business side of the franchise in terms of structure and personnel. Still entrenched are two longtime Irsay confidants who presumably will play a key role in the transition: Chief operating officer Pete Ward, who is entering his 45th season with the franchise, and chief legal officer Dan Emerson, who has advised the Irsays since 1984.
There are still unanswered questions, like how the sisters might navigate reaching a consensus on decision-making. It’s also unclear how heavily they will be impacted by estate taxes, which could be substantial (Jim Irsay is believed to have transferred some of the franchise’s ownership to his daughters in previous years, but specifics are unknown).
But there is one thing about which there is no doubt: The Irsay daughters have been preparing for this job their entire lives. And, now, their time has come.
