The Colts have enough problems without the noise around their owner.
Indianapolis is 0-9 dating back to after its bye week last season. Daniel Jones, the $88 million quarterback, is back to looking like a rookie. Alec Pierce, the $114 million wideout, is now on injured reserve with a foot injury and will miss at least the next four games.
And yet the conversation keeps drifting somewhere else: Carlie Irsay-Gordon on the sideline.
The Colts’ owner and CEO has been a visible presence near the field for years, headset on and working the game from the sideline. But the topic has suddenly turned into one of the league’s hottest talking points, with plenty of people insisting owners have no place there.
“That's sacred ground: Players, coaches, staff,” former Green Bay Packers executive Andrew Brandt said on the "Ross Tucker podcast." “Owners have no business there. Front office has no business there.”
Inside the building, though, that debate doesn’t seem to exist.
Colts tight end Mo Alie-Cox pushed back on the criticism, saying the players aren’t bothered by Irsay-Gordon’s presence and don’t view it as some new development. He also took aim at the media for making it into a bigger issue than it is.
“It’s not an issue because she doesn’t bother us,” Alie-Cox stated. “… It’s not like she’s talking over the headset and telling people what to do or different things like that.
I really think it’s just a learning thing. It doesn’t really bother us, and it’s been going on for years.
It’s not like it’s something that just started.
“I guess they’re taking more notice now because she’s the owner and not Jim anymore. But it’s been going on for a while, so it doesn’t bother any of us, and I don’t know why it bothers people who aren’t in the organization because at the end of the day, it affects us not them.”
That lines up with what Irsay-Gordon said earlier this year. In a June 2025 interview with the Colts’ official website, she said being on the sideline helps her do the job better.
“So much of [being an owner] comes down to just how we operate and how things work and the headsets - I would suggest it for anyone else that has to pay coaches and GMs millions and millions of dollars,” Irsay-Gordon said. “It helps you make a less expensive mistake, potentially.”
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